Resurrection
by MClark083108
Summary: Top Secret facilities, new and old foes, identity crisis's, and a love that will always endure. Tris returns, but is she really herself, or the person that everyone remembers her as. Follows the events after Alliegence.
1. Prologue

Epilogue

_**Fort Wayne Medical Research Facility – Top Secret**_

"Doctor. I'm not sure if the serum is going to work. The paperwork from Chicago indicates that…"

"Non-sense! It has to work. It's the only chance we all have of survival."

"But Doctor-"

"Nurse Hathaway, while I normally would agree with you, this patient is special. For all intents and purposes we have to make sure this works. It's of the upmost importance that we give one hundred and ten percent."

"Yes, Dr. Stone. Should I alert the research facility of our findings so far?"

"No, we made a vow of secrecy. No one must know that she is here and still alive, for the time-being."

"Yes, Dr. Stone. "


	2. Chapter 1

It was a beautiful day out today. The grass was green and the water was so clear you could see the bottom and the little fishes that swam between our toes. The sun was hot and bright above us. My parents and I picnicked on the end of a lake and I was taking a swim in the warm water after a filling lunch. My parents looked so in love. I've never seen them that way. And they doted on me like I was the only child they ever could love. Didn't I have a brother? Caleb? Wasn't that his name? I'm starting to forget. It's so peaceful here. How could I ever think of anything else than the peace that fills me.

I stopped mid-stroke. Tobias. A face of a handsome man with piercing blue eyes filled my vision. A pang of hurt hit my heart and slowly died away. I shrugged in the water and continued to swim as the feeling of despair left me.

"Don't go too far, Beatrice!" my mother yelled as I swam leisurely out into the water. She immediately started laughing at something my father whispered in her ear. She looked so much like a girl in love for the first time. They were beautiful together. I try so hard to remember the information that David gave me about my parents. David. Hmm. Another name that brings back feelings of dread, but the feeling flies away as if it had wings. The feeling of peace fills me once again and I continue to swim further out.

I lay on my back, looking up in to the blue sky. The water lapped around me as I floated at the surface. The water even felt warm this far out. I looked down towards my toes to still see my parents laughing and it makes me happy. I feel like I have led a life of servitude to be awakened in this glorious place where nothing can touch me.

I turned over on my stomach and pressed further out. My mother's warning blaring in my head. Where could I possibly go? It's not like there was another place beyond this lake, where we have sat for what seems like forever and I am content to let time roll by slowly. I wasn't afraid of the water or its depths.

Suddenly, the water started to turn dark and muddy as I swam further out. I turned around to see the shore gone. I turned in circles in the water, but I could just barely hear my mother's voice searching for me. What was happening? Where was the clear warm waters? Now they are cold and I shiver in the water.

"Momma! I'm here!" I screamed, but she didn't hear me. I felt alone out in the water. Vulnerable. I could see the clouds starting to hide the sun and soon all light was gone.

Something pulled at me under the water. I screamed. I couldn't see anything since there was no longer any light. I felt something grasp my legs and pulled me under. Something was trying to drown me. I kicked and kicked, but couldn't get free. I didn't even get a substantial breath before the water rushed up my nose and into my mouth as it took my screams and pleas for help. My lungs began to burn from the lack of oxygen as they filled up with the muddy brown water. This is what drowning felt like. Not like a simulation, it felt like fire and there was no escape. I let go of my fear and just fell into the depths, never returning to the surface.


	3. Chapter 2

I'm so cold. If I could move my mouth my teeth would chatter. Why can't I get warm? I try to open my eyes, but they feel like they were glued shut. I felt like I tried and tried to open them and I couldn't. Panic started to build within me. Why can't I just open my eyes? I couldn't even move my hands, feet, or fingers. It's like they wouldn't respond to me at all when I told them to move.

Memories started to come flooding back to me. Caleb. My brother and the look on his face, how he screamed my name as I fell to the ground by the transponder that administered the memory serum to the research compound. The heartbreak I clearly saw on his face as I took his sacrifice from him. It was clearly the best decision. He wasn't going to sacrifice himself out of love for me or anyone else, only to ease his guilty conscience about sending me to my execution or the execution of my parents. Oh God. Tobias. I can't imagine how he might have felt seeing me once I had died. I never got a chance to tell him how much he truly meant to me. How much I wanted a brighter and better future for him, even if I wasn't going to be there to enjoy it with him. Christina and Zeke. Oh God, Uriah. Was he okay? All my friends, were they okay? Were we successful? Was my sacrifice worth it.

I could feel the sting of the tear pooling under my eye lids. Tears? How it is possible that I am crying? _You're dead, Tris, you can't really cry. _

If I'm dead, why does everything feel so real.

I could see just a sliver of bright white light through my lids before one finally popped open. Looking straight ahead I couldn't look around. A face came into view, but it wasn't clear. A bright ball of light was aimed at my eyes before my lids dropped again. I wasn't dead, or was this a heavenly medical evaluation?

"Dilation complete. Brain waves are improving. Get the doctor; he will want to know that the serum worked," a firm, but gentle voice said. Probably belonging to the fuzzy face that I saw when they lifted my eye lid.

"Hmm" they mumbled and then I felt the snap of the latex glove as I wiped under my eye, "Tears? Remarkable."

"Nurse, improvements?" a rough voice joined along with some very heavy footsteps.

"Yes, Doctor. It seems she is responding to the treatment. Her brainwaves are improving and her eyes are starting to dilate. I would anticipate her waking in a few days and regain full capacities in a matter of weeks."

"Excellent, I will let headquarters know. This is a step in the right direction. Now we just have to formulate the correct amount of memory serum to reprogram her for another testing facility."

"They are putting her back in?"

"Yes, but that is all the information I was given. Remember, it is not our place to pass judgment on our authorities. We are to get her ready to be a transferred into the Cincinnati facility."

"Yes, Doctor. I will keep you advised of her improvement."

I heard a few scuffles. Memory serum? Cincinnati? What were they doing to me? I wanted to scream for them to let me go. What were they doing to me? Does Tobias know that I am alive? Why isn't he here? I heard that it was a secret. Was it a secret from everyone? My poor Tobias. I will get back to you. I promise.


	4. Chapter 3

Time passes differently here. I'm not entirely sure if I'm alive or dead. I should be dead. My very last memory is the one of David shooting me in the back as I hit the transponder that released the memory serum into the air at the research compound. The voice of my brother as he stormed into the room, the look of shock and despair that crossed his face. How he held me in his arms and rocked back and forth saying, "It should have been me. It should have been me" over and over again. Only it wasn't him. I did the ultimate selfless act and died so that everyone I loved could live. Maybe I should have been Abnegation after all. I'm not sure I would have been brave enough to go through with it if it hadn't been for Dauntless. To be truly honest, if it wasn't for Tobias, I don't think I would have been much at all.

Tobias. I wonder what he is doing right now. How long has it been since I've died? I really hated to leave him like I did. I am always breaking my promises to him about putting myself in danger. If I had lived, he would be furious with me. I'm sure he would be furious enough to possibly break up with me. It would have been worth it to save my brother. I lived through the Death serum. It was the logical choice. At least that's what the Erudite part of me thinks. If it hadn't had been for David, I would have lived. I would have had a life with Tobias. I could have had a family. I could have been with my friends. There were so many could have beens floating through my head.

I still remember the last words Tobias spoke to me. "I love you, too. I'll see you soon." Only he didn't see me, he saw my body. I can still feel the pressure of his mouth and the taste of his kiss, and the texture of his skin. Oh how I miss him terribly. I can feel tears streaming down my face now. Unbearable grief has filled me and unlike the place I was with my parents, the feeling doesn't go away. I drown in it like I did the water of the lake. My mind drowns in the thoughts of Tobias and all my friends that I have left behind. Hearing what these people are going to do to me, I'll never again know myself or them. I have to fight. I am good at that. The Dauntless taught me to fight. Tobias taught me to fight. I may not be strong, but I am brave.

"Shh. They may hear you crying," a gentle voice says to me. It sounds like it's close to my ear and slightly familiar. "You're probably freaking out because you can't see, you can't move, you can't speak. They have made you that way. All your questions will be answered in time. Be brave Tris."

Tris? How does this person know me? Why does the voice sound familiar? The other voices, medical staff I suppose, said it was top secret where I was. None of them sounded familiar except for this one. Was I in another compound like the one just outside of Chicago? Is it possible that I lived and they brought me here under cover and told no one? Hope finally springs forth in me. I can go home. I will see you again Tobias.

"Oh, excuse me", a firm voice said, the voice I recognize as the nurse who wiped away my tear, "are you supposed to be here? I haven't see you before."

"Yes Ma'am. Just cleaning up, ma'am," the gentle voice said the one that was close to me. That was the voice that knew my name, the voice that I could almost pin point as if the name was right at the tip of my tongue.

I heard the footsteps as the familiar voice most likely left the room. I heard the snap of the latex gloves as I assumed the nurse placed them on her hands. Cold hands grasped my wrist and held it for a few seconds. Scratches, like pencil on a paper came next. Light humming sounds filled the room, almost musical.

"How is our patient?" the rough voice asked. I didn't hear him enter the room, perhaps he hadn't.

"Doing remarkably well. I assume we will administer the memory serum before she wakes? It will be soon. Her brain activity is bewildering. It's as if she is dreaming in her comatose state."

"Then we will need to administer the serum as soon as possible. Have Nita gather the materials and bring them in. We'll get started. We can't have her remembering all the details of her past life. We have other plans for her other than dwelling on stuff from the past."

"Nita, sir?"

"The lady who was just in here. She is support staff and will help you gather all we need for the serum. She should be easy to spot. One of the very few in a green jumper."

"Yes, sir"

I heard the shuffling of feet and then quite. Nita. Juanita. Yes, that is why the voice sounded so familiar. She must be here to help. But how did she know I was here. If she knows then Tobias can't be far away. He has to be here, ready to save me. At least I could hope he was.


	5. Chapter 4

My mind wakes from its still darkness. I still try to open my eyes, but fail at my attempt. A light thump in the distance indicating that someone is in the room is what alerted my response. Oh, no. Is it happening now? Are they going to wipe my memory and place me elsewhere, away from my friends, my family, from Tobias? Why did they take me? Why am I always so special? If I could shake, I would shake. I don't think this is anything any fear landscape could ever have predicted, but I'm sure if I were to stay in my own mindset, I'd have nightmares forever. Too bad my mind is about to be wiped clean and a new life programmed into my head instead.

I wish I could fight back, but I have no way of fighting, of fighting to get to Tobias, to my friends, my family. I could actually feel my lips tremble as the tears started to stream down my cheeks. I could feel them. Perhaps I will wake from this slumber before they have their chance to indoctrinate me to their ways. I wouldn't go down without a fight. I was Divergent. I should be able to resist this serum they want to give me. My will to resist was strong. That's all it took, willpower. They wouldn't take me. I wouldn't let them.

I hear a creaking close to me and a warm hand press to my forehead. Soft, but bristle hair tickles my nose and lips close to my ear. "Don't whimper or make a sound" a familiar voice says to me. "I'm here to help you. I'm going to get you out."

It was Nita. She came back. Would she save me from the impending doom that I felt was near. I couldn't respond, I couldn't even see yet, but I felt like I was floating on a cloud of hope. Soon, my mind reminded me that I was comatose and unable to move or react anyways. How was she going to get me out if I couldn't move? I could only hope that her place of escape is better than her half-cooked plan to take the Death serum from David. As grateful as I was that it was Nita here, I still felt weary. She doesn't even like me, so why would she help me? Feelings of confusion and dread filled me. What is Nita had another plan other than to return me to my friends and family? Was I fighting more than one enemy?

I felt straps being undone and Nita moved my legs back and forth, flexing them, or at least I could tell because I could feel what she was doing, though I wasn't awake yet, at least not fully awake. She grabbed my hands and rubbed them, I assume between her own, then running her hands up my arms and rubbing them, as if to fight off a chill that I couldn't feel yet. I could feel the pull of something sticky lifting off my chest and face. I wanted to cry out from the sharp sting, but I couldn't open my mouth willingly. I then felt as a needle was removed from my arm. The place the need was throbbed and warmth began to fill my body again.

"Okay, Tris. I removed all your straps and the IV that contained the sedative they were giving you to stay asleep. I know you're awake in there. Just hold on," Nita said as I felt her lifting my head up.

"I'm amazed that I found you here. I didn't expect to see anyone I knew. But you were right in Chicago. I went in too early and not prepared enough for what David had planned," Nita continued, "But you gave your life so that our mission could be accomplished. And you survived the Death serum. Something completely unheard of. My group could use someone like you as a weapon. You're not afraid of much and you can outsmart them all. Plus, if most of these serums don't work on you, we could definitely use someone like that on our side."

My brain was telling me "Warning! Warning!" to the last bit that Nita was telling me. She wanted me to join her and be her weapon? I didn't want to be used as a weapon. I just wanted to go back to Chicago and start my new life with Tobias.

"When you died, everyone became a zombie in Chicago. Especially Tobias," Nita continued to ramble. "He's a completely different person since you died. It's been a long time since that day, over two years to be exact."

Two years? I've been gone that long? Tobias must think I am truly dead. What if I came back and he had moved on with someone new? How would I be able to handle that? No, I refuse to believe it.

"He's a cold son-of-a-bitch. He doesn't let anyone come close to him, well, maybe except that girl Christina. She was one of your friends right? They seem to be close. I wouldn't put it past him to be shagging her right now."

She was trying to bait me. I wouldn't let her. Tobias wouldn't do that. Sex was not something either of us thought lightly of. It was something you did with someone you loved through and through. We were both a bit scared of the deep intimacy involved with sex. Neither of us had never done it.

"You know he finally went down that zip line thing. It was a big to-do when they thought they had your ashes."

My ashes? But if I wasn't cremated, who was? I couldn't even think of who could mastermind a plan like this to grab my body from the morgue, make everyone think I was still dead, only to bring me back to life. Who would have those capabilities? The government, that's for sure.

Wait, did she say Tobias went on the zip line? He didn't even like heights. Perhaps he did it for me and the exhilarating feeling I got when I traveled down the line. My heart swelled for him. He was overcoming his fears, even without me.

"It was really quite sad. Well, he is. He reminds me so much of his father, Marcus, with how cold and calculating he can be. He has become a great leader in Chicago, but it's all going south again. We need a revolution. And you are too important to lose. So, Tris, I'm sorry I'm going to have to do this…" Nita said just as I felt the prick of a needle in my neck.


	6. Chapter 5

My face stung as if someone slapped me. I could hear a muffled voice, like it was at the opposite end of a long tunnel. I couldn't focus on the voice very well. My mind is blank. All I know is that the Government had done something really wrong to me. I have to fight back and show them they can't just make me do what they want. I was special. I was important. I wasn't sure why I was either of those things, but I think I remember someone saying I was. Wait, who am I? Or more importantly, where was I?

"Tris!" the voice suddenly became clearer and my eyes opened.

The room was so bright that I brought my hands up to shield my eyes. My throat felt raw when I croaked, "What?" It must have been a long time since I've had anything to drink. I could really use some water right now. If only someone could turn down that incessant racket. A loud buzzing sound was everywhere and it hurt my ears to listen to it.

"We have to get out of here!" the girl told me as she pulled on my arm to get me out of the bed I was in.

Wires were hanging of machines attached to long silver poles. The sheets were strewn off the bed and Velcro straps were left hanging by the sides and end of the bed. Restraints. Everything was white and smelled of rubbing alcohol and lemons. It stung my nose. What was this place and why did my legs feel like mush? I had a hard time standing up, so much I almost fell over if not for the girl who wrapped her arm around my back.

"I'm Nita, I'm here to get you out of here," she explained as we began to creep away from the bed.

"Warning, facility contaminated. Please evaluate to the nearest exit" a bland and monotone voice indicated. I wasn't sure where it came from, but Nita looked stricken.

"Hurry, we have to leave. I think they know about me now, come on Tris!" she yanked hard on my arm, but my body wasn't responding to her very well. I was clumsy and unable to stand my own weight.

"Shit, you aren't in any shape to go anywhere yet. Geez, why do I get myself into these situations?" she mumbled to herself. I gave her a half-hearted apology because there wasn't anything I could do to help her. Nita looked around the corner out of the door to the room we were in, "Crap, here they come, here, sit here and just…stay there. I'll be back." She pulled a gun out of her pocket, crouched, then left the room.

I looked around as Nita left, what was I doing here? I looked down at myself and saw the blue and white checkered gown, my bare feet and my hole prodded arms. What was I doing here? I was a patient obviously. Was there a reason I was brought here? I couldn't think clearly. It was as if my mind was fighting for me to remember something that I couldn't recall. Why was it still sounding an alarm? Should we leave?

Loud bangs down the hall had me swerving in my chair to see what the commotion was. I heard a few more loud pops, then silence. I didn't see anyone running through the halls. The buzzing still continued. It was loud and giving me a headache. Soon the lights went out and small dim lights came on. They circled in a light amber color. Warning lights. The power had been cut from the facility. Perhaps that is Nita. I couldn't tell. I sat in that chair and just stared at my hands forever. I flexed them back and forth as if I hadn't done this a million times before. The tingly feeling in my fingers began to go away and my toes now felt like they had needles pricking them. I curled them under and stretched my feet, my legs, and arms. I now felt good, possibly good enough to try and stand. I pushed on the arms of the chair to right myself and stood on my feet. I wobbled a bit, but I balanced out. I'm not sure I could walk by myself, at least not yet. I really hoped Nita came back soon.

My request was granted when a tan face with stringy hair in her face peered around the corner of the easement and her face came into the room. "You can walk?"

"I'm not sure. Just standing feels off," I replied.

"Well, we don't have much of a choice. They know you are trying to get out and most likely with me. We're going to have to run and you're going to have to do it without help. I'll try to carry you as far as I can, but I need my gun to take down anyone who gets in our way," Nita replied as she came into the room, grabbed my arm and swung it around her shoulders, her own arm around my back and we started walking out into the hall.

Smoke billowed out of the hallway, most likely from gun fire? The hall was dark except for the rotating amber lights that were placed sporadically on the walls. Nita's arm around my back was stiff and her gun was out in front of her. Her eyes darted from side to side to take in her surroundings.

"What is this place?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"This is a medical research facility. I was banished from Chicago by your boy Tobias and I was brought here. They do testing on Divergent subjects here," she said with a little heat in her voice.

"Divergent subjects?" I asked. "Tobias?" Both words hung in my head. They felt familiar, but foreign all at the same time. They both felt like they held weight with me, but I couldn't place them.

"Yes, you are Divergent, meaning you can't be conformed to one way of thinking. Originally this was a sought after genetic effect by the Government, until the fall of Chicago. Now they view you as a threat. They have been reconstructing all the faction cities in the United States, collecting the Divergent and testing on them."

I was confused by her language. Most of the terms she uses I can't place. United States? What was that? Is that where we were? Factions? So I was brought her for testing then. Testing for what? Who was this Tobias person she spoke of and why does my heart flutter at the mere thought of his name?

"Who is Tobias? Why did you call him my 'boy'?" The word Tobias stuck on my tongue. I couldn't get it to go away. Something nagged at me once again to remember, but I couldn't.

"Never mind him. He's a cold son of a bitch and he would probably move heaven and earth to get to you. Best to stay away from him."

"So he's a bad person?" I asked, not sure if I believed those words as I spoke them. Tobias and the word bad just doesn't seem to want to fit in my mind.

Nita looked at me then looked away. Shame filled her face, I could tell. She was hiding something, "Not necessarily bad, but he isn't fighting for what we believe in. He wouldn't conform to our mission. So now he is the enemy."

"What exactly do we believe in? Who are we fighting against? The Government?" I asked, curiously.

"We believe in the freedom to be as we wish. Equality for all no matter if you are Genetically Pure or Damaged. We are all people and cannot conform to one way of thinking. And we fight against anyone who doesn't believe that as well," Nita responded with pride.

I could feel the rightness in her words, but some of the terms confused me. Genetically Pure? Damaged? What did those mean? So I could understand fighting against this clinic. She was trying to free the Divergent then. If so, where were the others?

"And the other Divergent subjects?" I asked. Certainly I wasn't the only person here.

"Gone. I couldn't save them. But that's okay. I can save you and that's all that matters."

We hobbled though several hallways. Most were littered with bodies of what looked like security. I didn't see a single person I would identify as a Nurse or Doctor which made me think of the people who were running tests on me. Where were they?


	7. Chapter 6

We didn't run into anyone else that I saw until Nita pushed me against the wall as she looked around the corner. Most of the guards were taken care of that Nita ran into earlier. Bullet wounds to their heads or torso's. It was a kill or be killed moment and it thrilled me. My heart was racing and my adrenaline was pumping. What was going to come next? When would we get out? A million different thoughts filled my head and I wasn't sure if I would get an answer to them all.

"The only way out is up. We are in an underground facility. There are two guards posted around the elevator at the end of the hall. You distract them and I'll take them out," Nita instructed.

"Distract them?" I asked. How was I going to do that? Last time I checked I was armed with, well, just myself and a very embarrassing open back gown tied at my neck.

Nita looked at me, then looked down at my gown and grinned, "Well, for starters, these guys used to harass me here for a cop-a-feel. Why don't you show them some of your goods? That will distract them enough."

"My goods? I don't understand", what was it she was actually trying to ask me to do? She kept looking down at my chest and the gown I wore. A cold chill ran through my spine and my mouth turned down in a frown. "Wait, you mean for me to get naked?"

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Nita asked with her brow raised.

"How about, Hey! Over here! And then shoot them?" At least my mind was working even if hers wasn't.

Nita chuckled then shook her head, "If only that would work…come on. Off with the gown." Nita started to fumble with the ties in the back. I didn't feel comfortable with this. Showing some men my naked form? That seemed wrong. My mind screaming at me to tell her no, to resist, but I comply anyways, no matter how uncomfortable I feel.

I stood there, shaking, naked, in front of Nita. I didn't want to do this. I felt dirty. My legs are too skinny, my boobs are too small. I felt like a small boy.

"Well, you're not necessarily built like a woman, but it will do. Boobs are boobs" Nita commented as she turned me around and pushed me out into the hallway.

"Halt! Don't mov-"I heard a loud and harsh voice say.

I turned towards Nita who shooed me with her hands to keep going. I crossed my hands over my chest and crossed my legs to conceal most of my nakedness. "Help!" I gasped as I fell towards the ground. Not exactly how Nita planned it sure, but it would get the guards to come towards me.

Well, the plan did seem to work. Or at least part of it did. One guard came rushing over to me while the other looked around, unsure of what he should do. Help the poor naked girl or stand watch over an elevator. He still chose the elevator. I tried to lay limp as if I had fainted on the ground. I'm sure I was mostly exposed and goose bumps started pimpling all over my body. My anxiety level was rising. What could I do other than just lay here?

"Hey! Lady, um, girl," I heard the man say as he nudged me in the knee. "Are you al-"

"Don't move!" I heard Nita yell. "Hands up!"

I looked up at the man and he dropped his gun right in front of me. Nita threw the gown back down to my naked body and instructed me to get up and put it on. When I stood and wrapped the gown tightly around me like a dress, Nita gave me a pointed look as she glanced at the gun. I wasn't sure how to use one of those. I wasn't sure how I felt about guns either. I just gave her a confused look.

"Oh for the love of…" she muttered and she bent down to grab the gun by the shoulder strap, still holding her own against the guard. "Now tell your buddy to move slowly away from the elevator."

"Just put down the guns lady, no one needs to get hurt here," the guy said calmly as he backed up towards the other guard by the elevator.

If we couldn't get them to move, Nita would have to think of a different plan to get us out. I really hoped that didn't involve killing these guys, but if it meant getting out of here alive, we would have to do it, no matter if it did make my stomach turn. Speaking of which, I could feel the bile rising in the back of my throat. When was the last time I ate something?

"Not a chance. Move out of the way and I promise I won't hurt you," Nita threatened as she fired a warning shot at the wall near the guard. He flinched and then narrowed his eyes. Seems she just pissed him off rather than scare him.

"No need to be stupid lady. There are guards everywhere. The alarm system has been activated. You couldn't go up if you wanted to," the other guard instructed, his gun aimed at Nita, ready to fire.

"We'll just see about that," Nita said as she fired at the guard closest to us, shooting him in the leg. She then aimed towards the guard at the elevator as I ducked and tucked my hands over my head to protect myself. I felt a few shots of gunfire go off, what sounded like a scuffle, two whimpers and then someone pulling at my arms.

"Come on!" Nita yelled, "Damn guard grazed me in the arm, I can't pick you up."

I looked up at her, fear in my eyes. I looked down the hall to see both figured slumped against the wall. She killed them. I had better stay on her good side before she turns on me next so I did as she asked.

I got to my feet and we both headed towards the elevator doors. She pressed the button to go up and the light above the elevator dinged as it continued its decent towards us. Nita had her gun at the ready when the doors opened. I stood off to the side, trying to be as small as possible. I wasn't sure what we were going to expect when the elevator dinged open. I braced myself and squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the shouting and the gunfire that never came. I opened one eye as Nita walked into the elevator.

"Are you coming?"

This was our shot, our way out. Yes, I wanted out. I wasn't sure what I was going to see on the surface, but I hoped that we lived through it.

When the doors shut, Nita pressed the button marked "S". I assume that meant "surface".

"You know, you don't seem as brave as I thought we were," she indicated as she lazily threw her gun over her shoulder. My mind thought that was mighty careless of her.

Brave? I felt like people had told me before to be brave. Familiar people, but their faces and names were just out of my reach. My mind was fuzzy and I couldn't think straight. I wasn't sure if I was brave, I was mostly scared.

"Not everyone can be fearless like you, Nita," I replied and looked up at the rising numbers on the elevator. We would be approaching the surface soon.

"My friends are going to meet us at the surface. They were to take care of the security there, so we shouldn't have an issue. Our biggest problem was getting to this point. Now we are home free."

"Don't get me wrong Nita, I appreciate you helping me, but what's your plan?" I asked, mostly curious. I wasn't sure I wanted to meet her friends or go with her anywhere if it involved murdering more people. I just didn't feel like I was the type of person that went along with plans like that.

Nita gave me a sly smile and turned away. She shook her head and mumbled something before answering me, "I'm part of a group that is trying to free people all over the United States from being overrun and over governed by this so called 'government'. And we're going to need you to get to the bottom of it all."

"Why? What is so special about me?"

"You're the key, Tris. You can withstand just about any serum. Even the memory serum isn't perfect, though it seemed to have worked quite a number on you. That will be useful to helping you conform to our training," Nita explained.

Their training? I wasn't sure I liked that phrasing. My head kept screaming that something wasn't right. That something was really wrong with this. That I shouldn't trust Nita or her friends. I wasn't sure where I belonged, where I came from, or even what to do next, but I was sure that I was going to fight not to hurt those that didn't deserve it. Even the nurses in the facility I was being kept at were innocent. They were only following orders, doing their job. Was there something so wrong with all that?

The elevator dinged to the surface level. The doors opened and a bright light greeted us. I put my hands over my eyes, the light was blinding.

"Nita!" a man exclaimed.

"Rafi!" Nita yelled as she ran out of the elevator and into a man's arms. He swung her around and then kissed her on the lips. I felt a small blush rise in my cheeks. It seems that an affection like that would be private, not something to flaunt in public.

"You made it! I was worried when you didn't come up when you said you would," Rafi said as he held her close.

"I had some complications," Nita said as she turned and looked at me, "You remember Tris, right?"

"Oh yeah, the GP right? The one everyone's been talking about for years?" Rafi explained.

"Yeah…" Nita said as she turned her head and whispered into his ear.

I took that moment to look around. There were several people standing guard with large guns in their hands. Bodies littered the ground, compound guards most likely.

Rafi looked over at me and smiled, "well, I guess we should be going then. Come on Tris. We'll get you all settled in. Welcome to the Resistance."

He put his hand out towards me. I wasn't sure what to do, so I looked down at it and then up at him. I put my hand out and his hand grabbed mine and he shook it up and down. I guess I have no choice now.

"Lead on," I said, not sure if I really wanted to follow.


	8. Chapter 7

**The Hancock Building, Chicago**

"So, fear of heights isn't that bad anymore, huh?" my friend Zeke said as he strapped in me in the sling.

We were the last two up on the zip line of the old Hancock Building. The last few to ever take the ride down before the zip line became no more. I couldn't not ride it. It felt unfaithful to Tris. I made a point to conquer my fear of heights. It hasn't worked yet, but like I used to do in my fear landscape, I kept at it. Hoping it would change. It didn't.

The past few weeks, the council decided to take the zip line down, much to a lot of the dauntless complaints. It was our thing, the thrill of danger. But we were no longer just Dauntless now. Many of the former factions, factionless, and outsiders didn't like the zip line and fight endlessly the past year to have it taken down. Today was the day.

"Oh, no, it's still as bad," I laughed at my friend as he prepared to send me down. I could only imagine what Tris thought the first time she did this. She was nearly fearless, well, fearless of heights that is. She told me she felt like a bird, flying through the air. It was the most freeing experience she ever had. I could concur with that assessment. As much as it was death defying, and outright terrifying to me, it was freeing to feel the air blowing through your hair, your fingers, and your legs.

"One, two, three!" Zeke called as he pushed me off the building and down the line. A scream did bubble up in my throat, but I refused to let it out. I bet Tris didn't scream when she did this. I bet she laughed. I bet she screamed with joy and elation, not with terror. I saw my vision go blurry as water seeped into my eyes. Two years and still the ache wasn't any less.

The line went past the old Ferris Wheel. The first time I brushed against her as she lost her footing on the ladder rung. The feel of her smooth skin, the tautness of her legs. I closed my eyes trying to block out the thoughts, but they only came in clearer. Her long blonde hair whipping around her face as she climbed higher, not caring how high she was going. Her smile as she looked down at me and asked, "You're afraid of heights aren't you?"

I can recall her voice so clearly that it pierces my heart. By the time I reached the end, I grabbed the break and came to a stop. Waiting at the bottom were old Dauntless and some from other old factions, some from outside the city, and some of the factionless that faced their fear and took the leap. I laid there, face down, staring at the faces, their hands stretched up to catch me, but my emotions getting the best of me and letting tears fall. I see her face, Christina, who looks up at me with sadness in her eyes as well. I finally pulled the straps off me and let myself fall into the arms of those below that will catch me.

Once on the ground I fell to my knees and sobbed. I hadn't cried about Tris in a long time now, but these trips down the zip line always brought back memories I'd rather forget. I felt the gentle caress of arms around me. Christina. She had been a good friend to me the past few years. Both of us not able to let go of the ones we loved that we lost. Tris was her best friend, she was my soul mate. No one would ever replace her.

"Shh, it's okay," she whispered.

I just shook my head as my shoulders shook from my sobs of grief, "It doesn't get any easier," I said into my hands.

"No, it won't," she agreed as she pulled me up to my feet and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. As a former Abnegation, affection in public had never really been something I felt comfortable with, but this friendly affection was welcome in my blind grief over the girl I gave my heart and soul to.

I could hear the yelling of my friend Zeke as he made his final assent down the line. When we all caught him at the end there was a ceremony to cut the end of the line. Nothing formal, just a few words about what it meant to be fearless and to conquer our fears. I felt the speech was aimed more at me than anyways. Then finally, Zeke cut the end of the line and it fell, never to be anymore.

"You know she would be proud of you," Christina said as we walked back towards our apartments. We lived in the same building. She was hand in hand with Caleb, Tris's brother. I still haven't forgiven him. Seems Christina has and they've gotten really close. Perhaps it was her way of staying connected to Tris after her death. Who knew? I couldn't even look at Caleb without seeing Tris's dead body lying on the slab in the morgue.

"You know, I have a friend I met at work the other day that would—"

"No," I interrupted. It wasn't the first time Christina attempted to set me up with someone. I wasn't interested. I couldn't be. My heart nor my mind was ready.

"Four—"

"No, Christina!" I turned towards her. My face flushed red. "I don't want to go on a date; I don't want to move on. I'm not ready. Just stop!"

Christina just looked at me, her mouth open, ready to argue, like a typical Candor, but she looked at Caleb who nodded his head and she shut her mouth before turning to walk away with Caleb in toe. Good, I wasn't sure I wanted company right now. I just wanted to be alone.

I kept a piece of her. I didn't distribute all of her that night on the zip line. I had a small locket made and put a pinch of her ashes inside. I kept it around my neck all the time. I refused to take it off. I clasped it with my hand and ran out towards the trains. Towards solitude. Towards the edge of nowhere. Sometimes I would take myself to the Bureau and walked into the room that David shot her. I would fall to the floor and scream and cry. Why she sacrificed herself is beyond my belief still. This place however, was the last connection I had to her. I jumped on the train and headed out beyond the wall.


	9. Chapter 8

**Bureau of Genetic Welfare**

The building was falling apart now, but I didn't care. I continued up the stairs to the room I frequented nearly every week. I paused by the stone that Nita and her crew destroyed. The bomb that caused my friend Zeke's brother, Uriah, to be caught in the middle of and placed him in a coma, eventually leading to his death. His death weighed very heavily on me, almost as much as Tris's death did. It still did even if Zeke and his family forgave me. Nothing could erase the guilt that I should have taken better care of Uriah, of Tris, of all my friends. If only I hadn't been caught up in my own problems and my own selfishness, maybe both of them might still be alive. I was ashamed. I placed my hand on the last bits of rumble of the stone, "I'm so sorry Uriah."

The tears came freely now. I wasn't afraid of anyone seeing me this vulnerable. I turned away from the stone and headed towards the weapons room to which was now my sanctuary and Tris was my Goddess that I spoke to. My footsteps were like lead and I struggled to continue. Grief overpowered me and I fell down on my knees as sobs wracked me in waves. I had difficulty breathing as my body couldn't keep up with my erratic emotions. Sobs and cries poured out of me. I wasn't even near the room yet where Tris lost her life and it was as if I was fighting to breathe as my grief overwhelmed me.

I jerked as I felt someone touch my shoulder. I turned quickly to see my mother, Evelyn, standing behind me.

"I figured you would come here," she said, sadness filled her eyes.

I wiped my tears from my cheeks with the back of my hand, "What are you doing here?"

She gave me a small smile, "I've known you've been coming here for quite some time. I know they took the zip line down today. I wanted to see if you were okay."

"I just want to be alone Mom," I snapped. I didn't mean to be snippy with her. Misery doesn't always love company.

"I know sweetheart. I'll wait for you here and we can ride back together. There is something I want to speak to you about."

"Can't this wait until later?" I snapped again.

"Not really," she said as she wrung her hands in front of her, "I know you loved her deeply Tobias. Go. Grieve. I'll be here when you are done."

Evelyn Johnson walked away without another word. She had been staying with me in my apartment for a while now. I knew that she knew I was still haunted by Tris's memory and how deeply that I loved her, even more deeply than I ever realized myself. Knowing that this was what it felt like to love and lose, I never wanted to love another the same way ever again. I turned my back to her and walked up the stairs. My eyes were no longer flush with tears.

I walked into the room and went straight to the stain on the floor. Tris's body was here. This is where she died. The red stain on the floor was still there. If I could connect to her through this, I would. I touched the stain as I reached for my locket. I wanted the connection. I fell to my knees and pressed my forehead to the floor. "Why did you leave me?" I sobbed to myself.

"Two years have passed and you are still so much a part of my life as before. I hold you near my heart and I always will. I will always love you Beatrice. Always. You would be proud of me. I'm finally a leader as I'm sure you would have predicted. I'm not corrupted with power either like I feared I would be. I'm nothing like Eric, or my father. I try to be brave, selfless, honest, kind, and intelligent in my decision making. You would be glowing with pride if you were here. I would have you at my side and I would never let you go. We would have a family, children, a life together, but you gave that all up for your treacherous brother. You were always so much more forgiving than I could ever be. I can't even look at him without thinking of you. It's not that I haven't forgiven him for trying to keep you from killing yourself, but it's that I see you in him every day and I can't stand it.

"Christina and Caleb seem to get closer every time I see them. I wouldn't be surprised if they got married soon. I think she accepted him so that she could still have that connection to you. They do seem well suited to one another. Caleb is quiet where Christina is loud. He's smart, where she is, well, it would be mean to stay stupid, as Christina isn't stupid, but, you know what I mean. She's not the brightest bulb in the box.

"I miss you. This pain doesn't seem to want to go way. I can't let you go even if I tried. Each day is like the day I learned you were gone. It's hard to move on and I honestly don't want to. I may be a leader in this new world that you helped build, but it doesn't seem complete without you here. My hope is that one day I can find my way back to you, somewhere beyond the void of death, somewhere after life. Until then I will just have to continue on without you."

I stood up, still clutching the locket in my palm, and walked out of the room. Heading back towards to foyer where my mother was. I wonder what she wanted. My mind was too fuzzy to want to comprehend anything right now, but it seemed important to her to tell me here instead of wait until I came home.

I saw here standing where the sun was starting to rise in the east. You could see the sparkle of the water from the lake on the eastern side of the city, through the fields of grain. She was a silhouette looking out into a purple-red sky as the sun began to rise and start a new day. Her arms were crossed over her front and I could see she was taking deep breaths. I came up to her side and stood there, in silence, until she said the first word.

"You know I never wanted any of this," she started. Her head turned towards me, tears in her eyes.

"You may not have wanted this," I gestured to the building of rubble we stood in, "but that's the outcome of the insurgent rebellion. The outcome that sacrificed so many innocents."

She turned towards me. Her arms grabbing my shoulders, forcing me to look at her, "I didn't want this for you. I would never have wished this amount of grief on your shoulders after all we have been through. After all your father put you through."

"Don't bring him up," I warned. The mere mention of Marcus made my skin crawl.

"I can't tell you how sorry I am Tobias. I'm sorry," she said as she dipped her head, tears flowing down her cheeks. "I came to tell you I am leaving."

"Leaving?"

She nodded her head and looked up at me, "I have information that an uprising is about to begin in a nearby city, not far from here. I plan to leave to try and stop the bloodshed before it happens. To show them there is another way. We have lost too much here to let it happen again to others."

My mother, the noble solider, "Who gave you this information?"

I was curious as I hadn't received this type of information yet either, which means that Joanna is hiding things from me. She was the elected official for Chicago, the solitary person that was selected to be our voice. I was her subsidiary that people went to when she was unavailable.

"I can't say," Evelyn turned away, "but it is a reliable source."

"Then at least tell me where."

She looked up at me, knowing I wasn't going to argue with her. It was futile. If I learned anything from Tris, it's that women were complicated creatures, that no matter how much you wanted to protect them, they would always do as they felt was right. My mother felt as though it was her duty to do the right thing here. I couldn't argue with that.

"It's a city east of here called Cincinatti."


	10. Chapter 9

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew after we got in a truck from escaping from the compound was that we were stopped. I just barely opened my eyes and I heard Nita and her friend Rafi whispering to each other. Their heads were close together and I would have to concentrate hard to hear what they were saying.

"She has no idea who she really is," I heard Nita's voice.

"Can she really be trusted though? She was the Divergent that Tobias confided in right?" Rafi asked. "The one that botched our plans in Chicago?"

I could see Nita about to shift in her seat so I shut my eyes quickly to avoid being discovered that I was awake. I just laid there and listened to them talking. I didn't see to see them to understand what they were saying.

"Yes, but I wiped her memory. She doesn't remember anything."

"But you said—" Rafi stammered.

"I know what I said!" Nita all but screamed, and then lowered her voice, "The doctors in that facility in Fort Wayne were working on a serum that was strong enough to work on a Divergent like her. It's not perfect, but it got the job done. There were a few doctors unaffected by the memory serum that she released in Chicago and when she died, they secretly brought her to Fort Wayne. All her friends think that they have her ashes, which in fact, she is alive. "

"So you're positive that she doesn't remember anything? Not even about Tobias?" Rafi asked, his voice quivering.

"Positive. She seemed bewildered about where she was. She wouldn't even pick up a gun. Geesh, for a Divergent that chose Dauntless, she's not very brave anymore. And as far as Tobias goes, I made her believe that he's a bad guy she should stay away from."

"Perfect," Rafi agreed.

Their conversation continued for a few more minutes. Supposedly I was this special person that could resist all sorts of things that were done to me. I was an anomaly of society that was coveted, but not by Nita or her band of rebels. Supposedly I tried to botch their plans once so they planned to use me to fight with them, to brainwash me into their way of thinking. From all I heard her talk about factions, it seemed they were only trying to do the same thing. This really scared me. Did I belong in this place called Chicago? Why did the name Tobias eat at me as if I needed to remember him? Why was it important that I think of him as a bad person? Apparently I am dead to all the people back in Chicago that might have cared for me. No one is looking for me.

I felt a nudge on my leg, "Get up!" Nita's voice commanded, "We're here."

I faked a yawn and stretched my arms as I sat up, making the idea that I was asleep all the more real to her, "Where is here?"

"Dayton" was all the Nita said.

I didn't ask any more questions. Obviously she wasn't willing to give any additional information. Perhaps I would gather more information if I just remained quiet. I wouldn't let these people brainwash me and I would find a way to get back to where I belonged and to return to the people that cared about me, although I wasn't sure who those people were. Perhaps I should look for this Tobias person.

I looked out the window of the truck and saw small little houses littered all over the place. People in rags and dirty clothes were roaming the streets. Looking down the road two men fought each other while others looked on. One man went down and didn't get back up. The group dispersed, leaving the man on the ground. I was pretty sure he was dead. This wasn't a good place to stop, none the less stay. If this is what they were looking to create, I'll take the doctors and nurses over being potentially murdered. Maybe I was going to be murdered anyways, but it didn't seem that way from what I caught from the doctor and nurse's conversations.

Nita and Rafi got out of the truck and I followed suit. I noticed that there were several other vehicles that followed us and people were filing out of them, following our lead. People on the street moved out of the way for us and when their eyes landed on me, they went wide as if they had seen a ghost. Right now I kind of wish I was.

I followed them into a small grey house with a single window on the front that was caked with dirt. The siding was peeling and it looked burnt. Corpses of plants littered the front of the house. I suppose at one point this was a well-cared for home, now it just looked like a skeleton of a once beautiful age. The steps creaked as we climbed up to the door on the porch. The boards in front of the door bowed with wear and had a dark tinge to it.

Nita opened the door and soft yellow light filtered out. Three people were sitting at a small table just inside the door. The room was empty except for the table and a few scattered chairs. A woman looked up from her cards and then back down. She was sitting with two men, one was an older looking man, his hair was short and had a lot of grey in it. He looked at me with surprise, as did the young man sitting across from him.

The older man spoke as he stood up, "What is going on here Nita?" His voice was harsh and familiar. I had heard this man speak before and with heat in his voice, but I couldn't pin point where I had heard it.

"Marcus, this is Tris," Nita said while giving him a pointed look that I couldn't decipher.

"I know, I'm just…" Marcus stammered.

"No, you _don't_ know her," Nita emphasized, "Tris, this is Marcus. He was an outcast that we took in from our Chicago branch. Next to him is Matthew. He's our lead scientist. And that's Mary, she's not very talkative."

Matthew was silent and just continued to stare at me. "Hi. Do you rem—"

"No, she doesn't," Nita said as she nudged him with her elbow. "Tris has had a long ride from Fort Wayne. May be best to let her rest and we can fill her in later."

"Actually, I'm fine. I slept in the truck on the way here," I answered for myself. Why did all these people look at me as if they knew me? It made me nervous, especially the older man. There was something about him that I instantly distrusted and alarm bells went off inside my head. The way he said he knew made me think he did know me. How did he know me?

"Mary, why don't you show Tris to her room in the back while I talk to Marcus and Matthew?" Nita asked.

Mary, who looked sullen, looked up; her brow arching then shrugged her shoulders. "Fine, come with me."

I followed her out of main room where Nita was whispering with Marcus and Matthew, each who glanced at me during their conversation. Yes, I was very nervous. If they did know me, would they be able to tell me who I was and where I was from. Perhaps they could tell me more about this Tobias person.

"I haven't got all evening, come on," Mary said as she placed her hands on her hips and looked at me with scorn.

"Sorry," I muttered and followed her down the shabby looking hallway with my head down. It was time to play long, but I wasn't going to play with.


	11. Chapter 10

I heard a knock on the door of the room that Mary showed me to. It was a very small room with a single window, covered in dirt, dust, and apparently grease. When I entered I tried to rub out a spot to see through and it only smeared. There was no light in the room so it was very dark. Mary had given me a candle and she placed it on a small table by the door that looked like it might be ready to fall over if anything heavier was sat on it. There was a small bed that creaked when I sat on it. The covers had stains on it, I didn't want to think about where the stains came from or even what they were to begin with.

I was on high alert. Processing everything I heard in the truck along with the strange way that Nita was acting with those people in the room, I was sure I couldn't trust her now. I was sure then that I could trust no one out in that room that I had just met. The two men, Marcus and Matthew, they both seemed to know who I was. Perhaps I could play along just enough to get answers out of them. Matthew's face was elated when he saw me. Marcus looked shocked, and most of all, angry.

A knock at the door made me jump. I hadn't realized that I was so deep in thought that I couldn't hear footsteps. This house creaked with every movement.

"Tris, may I come in?" a rougher, older voice said. The knob started to turn, but I remembered that I locked the door behind me. Good to know that the locks worked in this rickety place, especially when it looked like it was about to fall apart around us.

I walked to the door and unlocked the knob, opening the door open just a smudge. It was Marcus. His eyes looked at me with such sadness. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but I was hoping to have a word, if you would allow?"

He sounded so diplomatic, as if he should have been a leader somewhere. I heard Nita say he was from the Chicago area, perhaps I could ask him some questions. I just nodded my head and opened the door for him to enter the room, closing it behind him.

Marcus entered the room with his hands clasped behind his back. His clothes were dirty, but his hair was trimmed short. He had dark circles under his eyes and a scar that ran down the side of his face. I noticed that his hands were worn with blisters and he had dirt under his fingernails. He looked like someone who had been worked hard his whole life, but he carried himself like someone with dignity.

"I wanted to speak with you about our plans," he started.

"Do you know who Tobias is?" I asked suddenly. I didn't mean to blurt it out, but the name had been nagging on me for some time since Nita told me who he was. And now that I know Marcus is someone from Chicago, I have a chance to learn some real information instead of lies. Marcus however just looked at me as if I had just slapped him. His eyes were distant, almost sad looking, but anger lingered in the background. It was a few moments before I even saw him blink and then he turned away from me.

"Yes," Marcus said. His voice was rough and he struggled to say even that word.

I didn't want to get closer to him. Some part of me told me to stay away so I was listening to it. Seems I was able to tell more truths to myself than the people around me.

"I'm not here to talk about him though. I'm here to talk about the next stage. The reason you are here," he turned and faced me. His face was a mask, completely devoid of all emotion. It made me very uncomfortable that he could switch his moods so quickly. I decided that it was best to remain quiet and just nod my head in agreement. "Good, take a seat and I will get right to it."

I sat on the bed as Marcus explained to me the plan that this rebellion had. I hung onto his words, asking for details as they were presented. I wanted the most information I could so that if I needed to flee, I knew the right time to do it and where.

These people out here call themselves The Rebellion and lived in a place called the Fringe. They live outside of these massive cities that the government deemed as social experiments, which actually they were places that were creating a genetically superior race of humans, which were called Divergent. Rafi had called me that. People who were Divergent showed resistance to the serums, though there were varying degrees of resistance. The serums were used for those who live in factions as Marcus called it, to control the actions of their members. Divergents were considered dangerous because they could not conform to a particular action, that being honesty, bravery, aptitude for knowledge, selflessness, or kindness. A Divergent usually has all those qualities, but can choose when to be either. As Marcus continued to explain, each quality formed a faction, and that quality was absolute. So if you were from Candor, it was expected of you to tell the truth, always.

Divergent's were considered genetically pure, or GP, while all who were not Divergent were genetically damaged, or GD. The people starting the rebellion are mostly GD's who would not accept the government telling them that they were damaged. I understood that. I wouldn't want to be considered damaged and therefore not as important as someone who was pure. The government valued the Divergents. I can now see why Nita wants to use me. I could also see why in some way she may despise me. Perhaps that is why she injected me with some memory serum as I heard her tell Rafi.

According to Marcus, he too is Divergent. However, my resistance to the serums is much stronger than his. I am a special case, apparently. I didn't feel necessarily special. I felt so out of the loop, as if something was missing. I felt like I was missing apart of myself and it was screaming to tell me to come back to it.

"So, when all is said and done, we are going to head to Cincinnati and head the rebellion. It is already in the works there. We have a few contacts. We even have some others that may help from other territories that believe in our mission to free every one of the overpowering government's influence and allow us to live the lives we see fit."

"Other territories?" I asked. There are other places like this Cincinnati? Like Chicago?

"Yes, most of the government experiments were conducted in large cities throughout the United States. Most of the experiments failed and many people were slaughtered by the government in order to save face. We are not going to let that happen again," Marcus explained. I could head the heat in his voice. He was passionate about what he felt was the right thing to do. I could believe that as the truth.

"What is it that you need from me?" I asked. Still unsure what my role was going to be here. "I don't even know how to handle a gun, much less fight."

Marcus's mouth tipped in the corner, "That my dear is exactly why you are the perfect candidate."

"Perfect candidate for what?" I was getting a bad feeling about what he was about to tell me.

"The perfect candidate to go in unbeknownst to anyone, extract the rebel leaders and let us take down the city. You shouldn't have to do much fighting at all. A gun is really not that difficult to use."

I looked warily at him. I wasn't sure I wanted to participate in all this. Again, my mind is screaming at me, but I can't tell what it's trying to say. All I know is that I have a bad feeling down in my gut about all this. The doctor and nurse talked about sending me to Cincinnati. Maybe that was the reason I was chosen by Nita. The Government was already expecting me there, so it would be no problem getting me in. But to let others pass through so that the city could be destroyed? I wasn't sure I was okay with that. Perhaps I can do more good here than bad. Maybe I can warn these people and they can flee. Perhaps that will be my role, regardless of how Nita or Marcus wants me to play in their game. In a game of chess, I would be their pawn, but I am hiding my crown under my hat, and soon I would checkmate Nita and her group.

Wait, chess game? How did I know that?


	12. Chapter 11

**Fort Wayne, Medical Research Facility – Top Secret**

"Oh my." Evelyn exclaimed as we pulled up to a gate to get access to this compound she had heard about. She didn't sound excited, she sounded worried.

"What is this place?" I asked, looking around, seeing mostly buildings with window that had been blown out, other's crumbling in the distance.

We had been on the road for almost three hours. Before we head to Cincinnati, my mother, Evelyn wanted to stop at this place in a town called Fort Wayne. She had only briefly told me about this place. I was surprised she knew where it was. There wasn't much too this place. It definitely looked like a place ravaged by war. There wasn't a single soul here to greet us either. That left me with an unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"It used to be a military base, before the Purity Wars. It's now a medical research facility for the government. My source said to come here and check it out immediately as it may hold clues for what to expect in Cincinnati."

"And just what are we going to expect in Cincinnati?" I asked, giving her a pointed look. I could admit that I was a little hesitant of her plans here. I didn't understand why we didn't just take one of the planes from the Bureau, but I agreed that no one had the experience to fly one, or at least anyone with any memory of how to fly one. Not that I really wanted to be thousands of feet up in the air either.

"Rebellion, infighting among the factions, loss of innocents. From what my source tells me, it's going to get worse before it gets better. Supposedly they have a secret weapon, but my source won't tell me what it is."

"So why do we need to go then?" If this source of hers had a secret weapon to help this city, then why did we need to go?

"Because Tobias, the group my source is working with is the same group that blew up the Bureau. After Tri—after the memory serum was released, we had a few people who ended up missing, remember? I haven't heard or seen from Nita or her band of misfits in a long time."

"You think Nita has something to do with this?" I looked out past the gate. I saw dark shapes on the ground just up head in front of what looked like a metal box. I wasn't sure how much I would believe that, but I wouldn't put it past Nita and her rebellious way of thinking. I wouldn't be tricked by her feelings of righteousness and her sense of right and wrong. Even Nita, whose intentions were noble, had a skewed moral complex just like Jeannine Matthew's did, the feeling of sacrificing few for the sake of the whole. That's not what I believed.

"I think there is a possibility that she is involved, yes." Evelyn climbed out of the car, one that used to belong solely to the Erudite that ran on electricity and sunlight. She walked towards the gate and pushed it open. The metal made a very loud screeching sound which I covered my ears from. When she came back into the car she turned towards me, "I want to go in and investigate first, and then when it is all clear, I will come to get you. Do you understand?"

"I really don't-"

"No arguments, Tobias. I agreed to let you come with me, these are my rules. You stay up at the surface while I check the facility out, then I will come get you. I need you to keep a look out up here in case anyone comes."

I nodded my head. No sense in arguing with her. She said to stay on the surface, so the facility must be underground. Good, I wasn't thrilled about venturing into a building that I feared would most likely collapse on top of us.

I stayed quiet as we drove down the dirt path that led to the box that stood alone in the distance. As we got closer we realized that the dark shapes surrounding it were bodies. Lots of bodies. The people on the ground looked like soldiers with their black outfits and headgear. They looked like Dauntless Police. They wouldn't have been out here unarmed so someone had to have killed them all and then taken their weapons. I didn't want to let my mother go by herself now.

"I'm not letting you go alone," I said, surprisingly firm.

"I will be fine. My source assured me that the people who killed the guards are gone."

"And how would they know that if they weren't here themselves?"

Evelyn's silence was telling. She was working with a group of people who slaughtered these guards. This was not a death based on self-defense, this was genocide.

"Mom, we shouldn't be here. We should get to Cincinnati. This wasn't part of the plan," I insisted.

"Plans can change!" she snapped before shoving the car into park. The abrupt stop jolted me forward, my hand braced out on the dash to balance myself.

I had never really seen her angry before, not like that at least. The wildness in her eyes made me think of my father and how brutal he could be when you disobeyed him. I shrugged the memory off my shoulders and looked away. I knew I was conceding, but I would rather not fight with her until absolutely necessary. Obviously she felt there was something here to investigate that would help us. I needed to stop questioning her.

She had changed a lot in the time after Tris died. I was broken, completely inconsolable the weeks, even months after it happened, especially after they cremated her without me or even Caleb being present. That was the part that hurt more than anything. Not being able to say that last goodbye, the last bit of closure I could have had. Evelyn had held me several nights as I cried on her shoulder. I realized then that I really needed my mother all these years. And many times she cried with me, bearing my grief as if it was her own. Now I was sitting here in this new place questioning her motives for coming here. Hadn't she proven herself to me that she could be trusted? Of course. I had to give in to faith.

"I've been told that this is an elevator that goes down into the labs below," Evelyn explained as she pulled out two black boxes with a stick attached at the top. She turned a dial and I heard a hissing sound. "Testing" she said into one and her voice came over the second. "Here, take this one. I will radio you if there are any problems. Press this button down on the side, hold it, and speak. Release the button when you are done talking. That way we can keep in contact should anything happen."

I took the black box in my hand and watched as she walked towards the box that held the elevator. She looked at me and smiled as the doors closed and she began to descend. I was then left alone surrounded by death.


	13. Chapter 12

I kept checking my watch every few seconds as if it could move any faster than the last time I looked at it. My foot started to tap with my built up anxiety. I didn't like being out here in the open. It was a bad position to be in should anyone come looking to go down into the compound below where my Mother ventured. I hope she could find what she was looking for and hurry up. I didn't want to be here any longer than we had to.

"Tobias?" her voice came through the radio.

I quickly grabbed mine, trying to remember what she had told me about the button on the side, "Mom? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just checking that the radios still work and you can hear me loud and clear."

"Yes, I can hear you. What do you see down there?" I asked. I felt a bit easier that she wasn't trying to reach out to me because she was in trouble. It made me anxiety settle a bit.

"It's some sort of lab down here. I suppose they were working on serums. There are a lot of dead bodies down here too."

"What are you looking for?" I asked, realizing that I really had no idea why she went down there to begin with. All I knew is that she needed to investigate the facility, but I didn't ask what she was investigating it for.

"Supposedly they were working on serums that affected Divergents. I came to check to see if they were still here, or if Nita happened to take them when she left."

"When Nita left? So you know for sure she was a part of all this?" I was a bit appalled that Nita would stoop so low, but then again, other than my own negligence, she was the reason Tris and Uriah were dead.

"According to my source she is one of the rebel leaders that are going to hit Cincinnati."

"Then look for things that are tinted Orange. The last time she was after the Death serum. That's usually orange in color," I explained to her, not knowing if she knew whatever she was looking for looked like.

The radio was silent. I held it in my grip until the knuckles were white. "Mom?"

"Yes, Tobias. I'm here. I'm just looking-"

"Mom? Mom!" I shouted. "I'm coming down!"

I ran towards the doors and pressed the button to signal the elevators to move up towards the surface.

"I'm fine, Tobias! It's nothing, it's just I found something I wasn't expecting is all."

"What is it?" I ask, still waiting for this elevator. I wasn't going to stay up here any longer. No one was coming here.

"Nothing," she replied quickly. She only said things in a clipped tone like that when she was hiding something.

"I'm coming down there," I said firmly, "And no, I won't just stay up here like a duck waiting to be shot."

I didn't hear anything back when the door dinged and the two doors opened. I stepped inside and saw there were only two choices. One marked "S" I assumed meant surface. The other was marked "L" which must mean Labs. I pressed L and waited for the descent.

The labs are a long way down, as it took a few minutes for the elevator to stop and the doors to open. I was greeted with the stench of death. Two more guards lay face down close to the elevator. If Nita was in here, she probably had to break out of here, meaning she had to kill these guards. My mother was right; there were a lot of bodies down here. To the right and left were windows that looked into rooms filled with steel tables and machines. Blood was splattered everywhere, along the walls, along the floors. Most of the people littering the floors wore white lab coats. They were doctors, nurses, technicians. I shook my head at the needless slaughter. These people were just doing a job, they weren't a threat. They couldn't have even defended themselves.

I walked into the next lab that held cabinets of brightly colored tubes. Serums. I walked quickly to the door and found that it was locked. "Damnit!" I muttered to myself just as someone touched my leg.

I jumped back, grabbing the gun that was holstered at my waist. I wasn't stupid enough to not go in armed.

"Help…me…" a faceless figure said. The person was face down on the floor, clawing at me with their fingers. Their voice was raspy and they had a mop of golden blonde hair that made me think of Tris. Is this how she died? No, Tris would never beg for her life. She would have made the sacrifice out of love for all her friends. Knowing that she died bravely settled me enough that I holstered my gun and bent down, grabbing the hand of what looked like a woman on the floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I turned her over.

Her eyes were dark brown, not at all like Tris's. Her face was long and came to a point. Her lips were nearly blue. She had lost a lot of blood.

"Save…her…" the woman said as she clutched my shirt, "Save…the…di…"

"Save who? Everyone is dead," I tried to tell her, but her voice was failing. She was dying.

"No…the…div…" she mumbled again before she gasped for her last breath of air and fell limp in my arms. I felt a small tear begin to fall. This is all too much for me at the moment. I laid her gently on the floor and closed her eyes as if she was in a slumber.

I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do. Save her? Her who? Could someone be alive down here? If that was the case, were they friendly or would they attack us? I needed to find my mom.

I looked up at the case above me and back down at the woman who had just died in my arms. She had a ring on her waist that held keys. She wouldn't care now. I pulled them off her pants and fumbled through the keys until one worked in the lock. I looked at all the tubes in the cabinet. None of them were orange. Perhaps they weren't crafting a Death serum. I decided to take one of each. We could test them on our own back in Chicago. I found a carrying container on a nearby table, placed each tube inside then walked back out the door, following the hallway towards more rooms.

I stopped right behind my mother who was standing in a room that looked like it housed patients. The bed here had wires hanging everything, machines that beeps non-stop. The sheets were strewn across the bed. Someone laid here and left in a hurry. Perhaps this was the person that the woman was talking about. That's when I noticed that my mom was reading something and she was very still, except for her hand that held the papers back as she continued to read. Her hand shook uncontrollably.

I placed my hand on her shoulder and peered around. "Mom?"

She pulled the stack of paper close to her chest and let out a huff, "You scared me."

"What's that?" I nodded to the papers.

"Oh, this?" she said, her voice shaking. Something was off, "Oh, nothing. I thought it might contain some answers, but it didn't." she turned around, throwing the papers into the corner of the room, "What do you have there?"

"Serums. Not sure which ones they are, but I grabbed at least one of each," I said eyeing the papers in the corner. "I ran into a survivor."

Her eyes widened. "You did?"

"Briefly. She's gone now. She told me to help someone. She seemed to think someone was still here, but she didn't get a chance to say who."

She looked around nervously, well, "No one else is here. We might as well go."

"I'd like to look around if I could, maybe we can get some leads on who the lab person was talking about, or even what Nita, if it was Nita, was doing here."

"I already searched, no one is here, we can go," she pushed me around and forward, down the hall were we came. I ground my feet into the floor to stop her and she ended up bumping into my back.

"What's wrong? What are you hiding?" I asked.

"Nothing, nothing," she stammered. "This place just creeps me out. I want to go."

"Then why are you pushing me? Go up the elevator, I'll come right behind you," I said as I turned around her and started walking back into the room she was just in. I wanted to see what those papers said and why she was so shaken by them.

"Really, Tobias. It's nothing. Just the stench of death, wrongful death has me a little shaken. Makes me feel bad for that patient in the room. The reports of what was done. It was horrific."

"So that's why you're shaking?" I asked with my brow arched.

"Yes, just horrific things they did to such a small girl. There is no way she lived. We should just go. We have what we think we need."

I decided not to argue anymore. It wasn't worth it. So I turned around, grabbed her arm and walked back towards the elevators. Next stop, Cincinnati.


	14. Chapter 13

I grunted as I slammed my elbow into the hanging bag of sand outside the house the next morning. Sweat was dripping down my back, my face, through my shirt in all sorts of embarrassing places. I was beginning to stink. My hair was stuck to my face as I unleashed my tension on the bag. Nita had woken me up to tell me it was time to start boot camp, whatever that was. I learned soon enough that boot camp was Nita's version of extreme, at a loss for time, training. Right now, she just wanted to see how hard I could hit. I can't hit very hard.

"You're not very strong, how in the world do you managed to strong arm people if you are this weak?" Nita observed.

"Strong arm people? I don't think I have ever done that before," I gave her a confused look. As far as I could remember, which wasn't far actually, I don't think I have ever used violence against anyone. I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"Nevermind. Forget I ever said it, now come on. Hit that bag like it's some big bad boogeyman that's going to steal your clothes!" Nita goaded.

I gave her a menacing look, reminding me that I stripped to the nude to distract some guards, before I threw myself into the sand bag. It swung away from me and I fell to the ground on my hands with a huff. I got right up and kicked the bag. It swung out and then back in, nearly hitting me square in the chest, but I stopped it with my hands. "Better?" I asked.

Nita just smiled and nodded. "Soon you'll be able to fight."

I continued beating on the sand bag as Nita walked away. I put all my concentration into the bag. This was the person responsible for…for what? I stopped punching. What was I fighting for? Nita's revolution? I wasn't sure. The freedom to be as I was? But I knew that I wasn't. I overheard Nita talking to Rafi in the truck as we got here. She injected me with a serum, one that made me forget. What was I forgetting? How could I get it back?

Anger bubbled up inside me. Why did people have to mess with me? I punched the bag hard. It started to swing. As it came back, I punched it again and it swung further out. I spun, kicking my leg out as the bag swung back. When my foot made contact with the bag, the tree branch holding the heavy sack snapped and the sand poured out of the bag on the ground. I huffed and puffed, trying to get my breath. I looked down at the bag, imaging it was Nita. She took things away from me. She wasn't any better than these government types that she was trying to fight against.

Nita walked back with a large dark skinned man who was bulging with muscles. She looked down at the demolished bag on the ground and gave me a raised brow in question, "Seems like you may be ready to fight after all. Marco, go grab the others."

The dark skinned man nodded and walked away. He was a huge man. I was a bit intimidated by him. Nita just looked at me with pleasure written all over her face. She started rolling up her sleeves and tilting her head to each side, stretching it. I suppose I am going to fight Nita then. I took stock of her while we waited for Marco to return with everyone else. Nita was tall, but not too tall, meaning she was probably fast. She was skinny, but not too skinny, so she had a bit of muscle under those loose clothes. She wouldn't be a totally easy person to put down. Her dark hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that made her face standout. She was actually really pretty, much prettier than I was, but her hair was pulled so tightly that it pulled the skin against her high cheekbones, which looked too harsh, like she hadn't eaten in a long time.

I knew I didn't have strength on my side, but I could be quick. My mind was telling me to remember something, something that would be important in a fight. What was it? I wasn't sure, but I would try my best.

People started to gather behind the house where Nita and I were. They circled us as if to make a ring. Marco looked into the group, his eyes narrowed, and his muscles bulging from his crossed arms. His deep voice quieted the crowd as he boomed, "Quiet!"

"Seems that our little new-comer is ready to fight. Nita, why don't you and Tris dance a little?" he said.

I looked around and saw Marcus, his eyes were narrowed and on me like a hawk. He had a smug look on his face as if he knew the outcome of this fight. The look on his face made me uneasy, just like the rest of him did.

While focusing on Marcus I didn't even hear the battle cry or see the fist aimed for my face. Nita hit me right on the side of the temple. My neck turned abruptly to the right and I felt to my knees. I spit a bit of blood onto the sandy ground and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I could see Nita pacing around in circles around me, her steps hopping.

"Get up!" Nita yelled and the crowd around us roared. I saw the first night, last night actually, what happened when people fought here. No one helped, they just cheered on until someone died. I really didn't want to die.

I coughed as I attempted to stand up. Before I could get my hands up to protect myself, Nita came at me again, this time with her feet. She kicked at my side and I doubled over. She kicked me again behind the knees and I fell onto my hands again. This time Nita didn't pace around me, she continued to kick me while I was down. I curled up into a ball and placed my hands around my head, protecting myself.

My mind kept trying to scream at me that I've been in this situation before. What happened then that I could use now. A face popped into my head. A mean snarl, the whisp of dark hair as it started to grow from its short cut, the predatory look in the eyes of the boy that beat me while I was also down. Focus, Tris!

_Be brave_

The deep voice reminded me. I looked out and saw a dark figure walking away from the group. It's voice still in my head.

_Be brave_

I wasn't brave. I wasn't sure what I was other than a punching bag for the anger filled woman beating me.

_Never let them get on top of you. Use every advantage you have to change your position. Stay on your feet!_

Instructions rattled my brain and I fought to listen to them as the pounding in my head got worse. Nita was beating me unconscious, or nearly. I had to fight back. I had to.

"Nita, she's down," I heard a man say. Marcus. I could identify his voice now. There was no sympathy in his voice, just a very tired man who didn't want to see a girl beat another girl to death. His sounded bored.

"She's not done yet," Nita replied with a kick towards my stomach.

I anticipated it and I reached out to grab her foot before it made contact. I twisted her ankle and she fell over on her stomach, clearly in shock. I pulled myself up with her leg and jumped on top of her. I used my elbow to land a blow to her side as she attempted to get up. I would let her. I straddled her and squeezed with my legs. I pulled her ponytail back, hoping that I could pull out some of her dark brown, almost black hair. Nita screamed with pain and bucked me off of her back. I was ready and I jumped on her again before she could get to her feet. I punched her in the face. First I hit her in the nose which gushed with blood. I hit her again in the mouth, knocking a few teeth loose and busting open her lip.

"There, a few teeth to make her a little less pretty", the petty side of myself was happy at what we were doing her. I swung back and forth on either side of her head. Now I was just angry. I was angry at Nita, I was angry at the government, I was angry for being used as a pawn. I was angry at…Peter. His name hung on my tongue and I felt the bitter taste of rage boil within me. I wasn't sure where his name came from or the feelings that were invoked with it.

Nita wasn't fighting back, she had gone limp. I vaguely remember someone pulling me from her limp body. My legs and arms were swinging wildly, nearly hitting a large man; Marco, who grabbed me from behind. His large, dark arms enveloped me completely as he grabbed my hands with his large ones and held me still.

I saw Matthew run to Nita's side and check her pulse at her throat. "She's fine just knocked out," he indicated as he looked at me sadly. I knew Nita looked bad, I was guaranteeing that I looked just as worse for wear.

"Are you good?" Marco said as his grip got tighter. His question wasn't actually a question at all. I could almost not breathe as his grip was suffocating me.

"Yes, I'm good," I croaked as he let me go and I dropped to the ground.

I had won this fight. I could remember my teachings. I was taught to be a fighter. I wasn't the best there was, but my size and speed gave me an advantage. I could only barely make out my instructors name in my head. Four. If I ever met him again, I would thank him for the survival skills, I was almost certain that Nita would have killed me if she could, and no one would have stopped her. Well, maybe for Marcus.


	15. Chapter 14

I didn't have much time to wash up from the romp with Nita before Rafi came in looking for me. He had two large guns propped up on each shoulder. "Now that we know you can kick some serious ass, let's check out your sharp shooting skills."

"I need a few minutes," I replied and continued to splash water in my face. The mirror was caked with dirt so being able to see myself was a no go, but the cold water felt refreshing.

"Sorry, no time. We leave for Cincinnati tonight, we have to get you up to speed," Rafi explained as he turned the dial for the water off and pulled me out of the little make-shift bathroom.

Rafi pulled me out of the house and down the road towards a thick fence that bordered someone unknown's property. The fence was wooden and grey. It was certainly old by the way most of the planks nearly fell right off of it. "We're going to do some target shooting," Rafi explained as he placed a purple can that said "Pop" on the side in curly script on top of one of the posts of the fence. "The object is to shook the object off the fence, okay?"

"Seems easy enough," I agreed, though I wasn't sure how I was supposed to hold this gun. It was heavy and long. It had two handles hanging from the bottom of the barrel and a large shaft which Rafi explained to me that you put in your shoulder. That is where the brunt of the blow would travel.

"Now, here is your safety. When you're ready, press this button. There is a small circle here, see, that you can look through," Rafi explained. "When you're ready, you pull back on the trigger towards your target."

"Okay," I said as I placed my cheek on the back shaft of the gun. My right arm was holding the handle towards the front of the barrel and the butt of the gun was digging into my shoulder as I looked through the scope. The can popped into my vision.

_Breathe in. Aim. Breathe out. Shoot._

The same deep voice spoke to me. Four. My instructor. I felt as if he was right against my ear whispering instructions to me. I felt the light touch on my waist and my breath hitch just a bit. The touch was so familiar. I turned to what I expected was my instructor to see Rafi, his check so close to mine it startled me. He must have been whispering those instructors and why on earth did I react that way to his touch. Rafi is quite revolting. Perhaps it was my head acting weird like it had during the fight with Nita.

I stepped away from Rafi and lined up my shot again.

_Breathe in. Aim. Breathe out. Shoot._

I missed the damn can. My hands were shaking so bad I couldn't hold them still. The recoil from the gun was hard and my shoulder ached. Rafi came from behind me and wrapped his arms around my own. He held the gun to me as if he would hold it himself. He was too close. I could feel his hot breath on my ear and I wanted to puke it smelled so bad. Had he heard of a toothbrush?

"Just like this, breathe in and aim, breathe out then shoot," Rafi explained as he pulled the trigger for me and it just barely touched the can. "See, shoot at it enough times and you'll eventually hit it."

What he said struck a chord in me. I had heard that before, only I wasn't sure where I heard it before. I blocked it out of my mind and shrugged out of Rafi's grip. I pulled the back stock to my shoulder, tightened my grip on the handles and tried to relax.

_You can do this Tris_

The voice was calling to me again. Four. I could almost pain him in my mind. His face was blurry, but I could tell her was tall and muscular. Not overly muscular like Marco, but lean, as if he had been a thin kid that eventually filled out due to rigorous training. The voice calmed me, as if nothing else could touch me when it spoke to me.

_Be brave_

I closed my eyes and breathed in. I opened my eyes, set my aim on the center of the can, breathed out, and pulled the trigger.

"Wow!" Rafi exclaimed.

I had blown right through the center of the can, but the can never moved from the post it was sitting on. I looked back into the scope, following the mantra, aimed a little lower and shot again.

"Holy cow!" Rafi yelled.

The can went flying away from the fence post. I wasn't even sure where it went. I smiled as I looked up from the scope of the gun. My shoulder didn't ache quite as bad as the first time, but it still throbbed a bit. I rolled my shoulders and settled for another shot. "Give me another", I said to Rafi and another can was put in place.

It wasn't time to quit until I had knocked over a dozen or more can and proved that I had quite the beginners luck with guns according to Rafi. Must be because I out shot him six to one.

We began walking back to the house when we heard a scuffling outside. We ran towards the sounds of shouts and broken items being thrown against the wall.

"You promised!" yelled Mary who picked up a large glass dish and threw it across the room at Matthew who was huddled in the corner, his arms over his head.

"I'm sorry! I had to do something!" Matthew yelled back at her.

"I can't believe you! I can't believe we believed you! All along you were working with the enemy!" Mary cried as she ran to grab Matthew, but Marcus was just in time to catch her.

"Now, now, Mary. I'm sure Matthew had good intentions," Marcus looked at Matthew, "correct?"

"Of course! I don't want to see innocent people die Mary. You have to understand that! We could help those people," Matthew cried.

I looked back and forth from Matthew to Mary, not sure what we just walked into, but it seems that Matthew somehow betrayed Mary's trust and there is something about people dying?

Mary pulled herself from Marcus's grip, "This is on you, traitor!" Mary pointed her finger at Matthew's chest, "be lucky your friend was here to pull me away, otherwise you would be dead trash in the street like every other person in his hellhole!"

My eyes widened. Wow, seems like Matthew had some explaining to do. Marcus turned to me, "Get him out of here Tris"

I wasn't sure what made him think he could give me orders, but Matthew grabbed my hand, twisted me around and had me follow him out of the door. It wasn't until we were well across the street and still walking at a brisk pace that he let go. Perhaps it was all the pulling I was doing as well that convinced him to let me go.

"What happened back there?" I asked, rubbing my wrist where he had held in his grip. Gesh, Matthew was a bit strong.

"There are things you don't understand, Tris. Stuff you don't know," Matthew started.

"Then tell me, perhaps I can help?"

Matthew looked at me and gave me a "Oh, please" look and then shook his head. "You wouldn't remember anyways."

"Remember what?" I goaded, trying to get him to tell me what happened.

"This place, it's not for good people," Matthew started. He continued walking until he found a large stone sticking up out of the ground and sat on top of it. He looked back at the dust bowl of a house we ran from and looked at his hands. "You know they aren't good people, right?"

"I kind of had a feeling," I half laughed, half answered with all honesty. I didn't trust Nita, and I wasn't sure I could trust Marcus either.

"The people here think everything is for them to take. But they are just as bad! They want to kill everyone in Cincinnati, and I won't let that happen. There could be innocent people there."

"Kill everyone in Cincinnati?" I asked. That was incredulous. What would be the point in doing that?

"That was the plan all along. They weren't going to go after some 'serum', they were after the death serum. The same thing that happened when you…" Matthew looked up at me and I gave him a questionable look. "Oh, that's right. Nita made you forget. Tricky thing serums are. Most don't work on Divergents, but the government scientists have come a long way in perfecting their formulas. Must be why this one seems to hold onto you."

I sat next to Matthew and took his hand, "What should I remember?"

"All you need to know is that she's coming, and if she's coming, he will come too. If he comes, you'll know everything then."

"She who? He who?" I asked.

"Evelyn. I've been talking to her, she's from the Chicago area. She's going to try and beat us to Cincinnati so she and Tobias can warn the city about the rebel group."

"Tobias?" I asked, the person that Nita said was bad news.

"You'll know soon enough," Matthew said before he walked away, leaving me on the rock to ponder what he said.


	16. Chapter 15

We'd just pasted through a small town, we weren't far from Cincinnati at this point. The sign on the side of the road read, "Welcome to Dayton, Ohio!" We drove carefully so that we weren't noticed by the fringe folks. We didn't want to stir up trouble. We did pass by a group of people standing in a ring as two girls fought. I shook my head. This was so much like what I saw when I went with Nita to the fringe to meet others from the Rebellion. I turned away, not wanting to see the death that would soon come to the losing party. That's how things worked out here. You lived or you died.

My mind floated to Tris. If I had never gone with Nita that night perhaps things would have ended up different. If I wasn't so insecure about myself, about being damaged, about not being what I thought I was, or who I thought Tris deserved, perhaps my future and Tris's would have changed. What if I did stay in that small cot of a bed with her instead of sneaking off with Nita in the middle of the night? A tear streamed down my cheek. I would give anything to feel her warmth again, the soft breaths against my chest as she laid her head on my shoulder as she slept, the way her legs curled around mine as if she couldn't bear to let me go. The sudden grief tore at me; a new tear in my heart that could never be mended.

My mother reached over and tapped my hand with hers, "It will be alright Tobias. I promise."

"How do you know that? How do you know they will even let us in the city? If it's like Chicago, these people have no idea they are part of any experiment."

"That's very true. We will just have to make a very compelling argument," she answered, her eyes boring into mine before she turned them towards the road again.

Her hands fumbled a small disk that she put into a thin slot in the dash of the car. Music started to play from all around us. I could pin point certain instruments that I remember the Amity used to play, and still do. A guitar played a melodic tune and the drums kept up a good beat. Then a man started singing and I caught myself choking up at the lyrics.

_If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you. When mountains crumble to the sea; there would still be you and me. _

The song was so perfect for how I felt about Tris too. It was somber and reminiscent. I continued to look out at the window as we passed dirt piles and broken buildings. Scattered objects lay everywhere and people dotted here and there roaming with no purpose. This isn't what the world should be like. If only the government worked to correct their problems and make a new world for everyone, perhaps these places would be better off and so would the people in them.

The next song came on, it had a faster beat to it and my mom, Evelyn, drummed her fingers on the steering wheel as she hummed to herself. I did smile at her. It made me happy to see her alive and well. I was over the moon when she gave up everything to have me. I thought I was broken and neither parent would ever give up what they wanted for me. I was unimportant to them. I was so very wrong. She never wanted to leave me, but she had no choice. I knew that now. We were closer now than ever since Marcus has been out of our lives. Neither of us knew where he was and neither of us cared really. Johanna would always mention him in my presence, mainly to remind me that Marcus was also a leader; no matter what happened in the privacy of our homes, that he was a great leader and did have the best interest for the whole community forefront in his mind. I tried to see it from her side, but I couldn't. I just kept seeing the man that filled my fear landscapes over and over again.

Even after the collapse of our faction systems and a new democracy was built, I held onto those fear inducing serums. I would check regularly. Marcus no longer invaded my fears. I was over him. However, a new person filled my fears. I think I kept going back to my landscape just to see her. Tris. My fear that somehow I had caused her death ate at me and I relived it every day in my fear landscape. It was finally the nightmares that did me in. For months afterwards Evelyn would rush into my room in the middle of the night to calm me down. I was screaming in my sleep. Screaming out to Tris to no sacrifice herself, to come back to me. Every time she died and I woke with tears in my eyes.

Now, on this trip, I feel purposeful. I feel like this is something Tris would have wanted us to do. Just like our Abnegation faction taught us, to be selfless and to help others. I felt like I was upholding not only the memory of the values taught to us as children, but to Tris, who was the most selfless person I ever knew. Back in Chicago I was just a second to Johanna, the leader of the Chicago area. Everyone had nominated her and me for the positions to govern all. We had a long standing agreement with the government now that they would leave us be and we could govern and live as we saw fit. I started to notice that Johanna is just as secretive and sneaky as Marcus was. It was a thought that didn't settle with me very well.

We were approaching a tall fence like structure just up ahead of us. Evelyn slowed the car down until we got to the gate and a guard came up to the window. He looked confused.

"Can I help you?" he asked. I could see the tattoo creeping up his neck from his black shirt. Dauntless. Seems they have the same factions we did in Chicago.

"Yes, yes you can. I need to get in and see your Erudite and Dauntless leaders. I have information they need to know," Evelyn explained without giving away too much information.

"And just where exactly did you come from?" he asked.

"We are part of another faction city about four hours north of here in Chicago. Please, we need to see your leaders immediately. It's a matter of public safety."

That's what got his attention. He then drew his gun on us and yelled, "Out of the car!"

Evelyn and I both put our hands up and slowly got out of the car. Before Evelyn could speak I spoke up, "You're Dauntless. I am too, see" I said as I pulled my shirt collar down to expose to top of my tattoos. "We have important business here and trust me when I say that you need to let us in."

The guy looked wearily at me and then called his friend over who had a phone to his ear. The both whispered back and forth to each other, still keeping the guns aimed at us. Neither Evelyn nor I moved an inch. This was going to be tricky if they wouldn't let us in the city.

"Boss says to let you though. We're to escort you directly to the Dauntless Headquarters. If you try to elude us, we are authorized to shoot on sight," the guard explained as he motioned for the other guard to open the gate. "Please stop once you have entered through the gate."

We did as they asked, got back in our car and proceeded through the gate and stopped. I assumed we were going to follow them in a truck to the Headquarters, but the guards tapped on the window and indicated to unlock the doors. Seems they were going to go with us. We let them in the car and they directed us into the city.


	17. Chapter 16

The guards instructed us to continue driving straight into the city on the same highway we drove coming down from Dayton. They were mostly quiet and we turned the music off in the car as we tried to ask questions they wouldn't answer. I felt like they had the barrel of their gun up against my head. The tension in the car was stifling. We kept going on this thick road until the guard told us to bear right on the pathway that opened up, an exit they called it.

The road led us to this massive building that had beautiful green gardens that spanned the distance in front of a large dome shaped building with large windows in the front. I did notice that there were guards after guards that lined the road. This place happened to be very secure. Perhaps these people aren't necessarily in trouble. It seemed like the Dauntless really kept things under control here. A pang of regret filled me. No, I couldn't think of that now. I had to stay focused on the mission before us.

"Pull up along the front and stop the car. Give me the keys and get out," the guard instructed.

We did as asked and were standing in front of the building. I believe both of our mouths were dropped in awe. The building was massive. The sign that was etched in stone above said "Union Terminal" and there was a giant silver clock in the center. I could hear the sounds of trains stopping and getting ready to leave. So Dauntless here enjoyed the trains as well. I thought maybe that would have been only our thing, I suppose it's not.

A tall, menacing man briskly walked towards us. The way he carried himself made me think of Eric. Arrogant. He was so pale that his skin was almost translucent. He had flames tattooed up his neck towards his face and his arms were wrapped in thick black bands. His hair was equally as light as his skin, so much it made him look bald and his hardened eyes were a very light grey. He had on the typical Dauntless attire, all black. He wore a duster that waved behind him in his mist.

"Aros, thank you", the man said. "I'll take it from here."

"Yes, sir," the guard, Aros, said as he bowed, saluted, then briskly turned away, with our car keys, and drove our car away.

I would complain that we are guests, and they just stole our car, but the look at the new man was giving me made me rethink about opening my mouth and being defiant.

"And who might you be that you request to see the Dauntless Leader?" he asked.

"I don't believe we specified which leader, only that we needed to talk to someone," my mother started. She didn't know how to handle a Dauntless leader. Sometimes they were looking for as much brass as they were giving. Using logic on people that hardly used any didn't work. She was much better equipped to deal with an Erudite.

The man narrowed his eyes at her and then turned his attention to me, his eyes settling on the tattoo at my neck, "Ah, I see a fellow Dauntless. Welcome."

The man took my forearm and gripped it tightly. I recognized the salute and gripped his back. "Thank you. We have a matter of urgency to speak about with your leaders."

"Well then, speak, for I am one of them. Victor Machan, at your service," he bowed.

"Tobias Eaton and this is my mother Evelyn. Can we speak privately?" I introduced us as I looked around. I wasn't familiar here. I knew these people were in trouble, but I wasn't so sure about trusting them just yet. For all we knew we walked into a trap and they could inject us with the memory serum and we would then be people of Cincinnati.

"Of course. When my guards mentioned visitors, I took the liberty of alerting my other leaders of the factions to meet with us. They are in the Rotunda," Victor explained as he turned his back and began walking towards the building, us following on his heels.

If I ever thought the outside was grand for this place, it didn't hold a candle to the inside. Immaculate is the only word that came to mind. The Rotunda as Victor called it was a large round room. The ceiling was painted in bright colors depicting scenes of importance to the city of Cincinnati, or at least that's what the plaque said that gave a synopsis of the paintings represented. In the center of the room were chairs assembled in a circle. There were five seats, and all but one was taken. These must be the other faction leaders.

"After you," Victor motioned for us to enter the circle as he took his seat in the empty chair. We looked around and saw each leader of the factions, typically represented as they were in Chicago. A short, caramel colored man with thin blue glasses and dark hair sat to the right of Victor. He must be the Erudite leader. He sat straight with his hands clasped in his lap. I got an itchy feeling around Erudite's since Jeannine Matthews. She ruined the entire faction. I had to put my prejudices behind me. This man was not Jeannine; however, he did remind me a lot of Nita. Not a good comparison either. He stood as we turned towards him, "Federico Kumo, Erudite."

He sat, not speaking another word. The next person stood, a woman, Amity, as I could tell from the red and yellow floral patterns in her dress. Her hair was a pale yellow color that hung in waves down her waist; she even had a crown of daisies in her hair. Her skin was honey gold and glistened like the sun, "I'm Harmony Jones. Amity."

A man stood, a Candor, I could tell by the black pants and white top. His hair was slicked back and it was dark black in color, so were his eyes. He was nearly as pale as Victor, but not quite as much, "Trevor Long, Candor."

The last person to stand, as expected, was an Abnegation woman, so plain, so unnoticeable, yet so striking if you took your time to actually look at her. She had a long face, too thin lips, and a too big a nose, but that's not what caught my attention, it was her eyes. They were the same color as Tris's. Her hair was brown and knotted in the back of her head. Her cheeks flushed as she caught my stare and like every Abnegation, she turned her eyes away. She very quietly said her name, "Natalie Prior, Abnegation."

I almost spoke to introduce myself when the name struck me like a blow to the chest. "Prior?" I asked. "Natalie Prior?"

"Yes," she answered.

I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn't find the words. These people wouldn't know about Tris. And it could only be a coincident that her name was the same as Tris's mom. There wasn't any way, was there? I knew serums of all kinds existed, and many were made to help or re-train us, but what if the government was able to make multiples of people? Was that even possible?

"And your name is?" she asked.

"Tobias, and I am Evelyn, his mother," my mother spoke for both of us, as I was lacking for words. "We've come a long way to give you a warning."

"Is that so?" the Candor man, Trevor said. "And just how do we know you are telling the truth?"

"What reason would I have to lie?" Evelyn snapped back. "Leaders of Cincinnati, I come here as a warning that your people are in great danger."

All the leaders looked at each other with equal measure and then back at the center where my mother stood with me. Victor was the first to laugh.

"Danger? Here? We are at peace in our city. There is no danger here. You came all the way from where you came from to tell us this? I'm sorry you made such a long journey for nothing, but I assure you that we are well protected."

"Let the woman speak, Victor," the Erudite man, Federico, said in a calm voice and with a motion of his hand, allowed us to keep talking.

"There was also a time we thought our own city was safe. Factions began turning on other factions. Uprisings overcame our city. We thought to go beyond the wall in search of help and only ended up finding was more misery."

My mother droned on about what happened to us in Chicago and her source with the rebel group that gave her notice to know they were relocating to a different city to get what they wanted. What I didn't know is that Johanna and she had been working together secretly and without my knowledge. I narrowed my eyes at my mother. When she spoke up about having Johanna send an outside member with the rebel group as a "mole" she looked back at me with apology in her eyes. That must be why she didn't fight me too hard on coming with her. She had been keeping this from me, and so had Johanna. How are we ever going to learn to grow and trust if there are still lies between everyone?

"I coax you to prepare yourselves. These people are tricky and they know much about our cities and how they function. We know they are after serums, we just aren't sure which ones or for what reason. When in Chicago, they attempted to accost the Death serum so they could distribute it out to the entire city and claim it as their own."

I heard the women gasp, especially Harmony. "How awful!

"It wasn't until one of our own sacrificed herself and changed the distribution to a memory serum that saved us. Most of the community was inoculated so that the serum would do no damage except to those who were trying to distribute it. However, there are very few who can actually survive the death serum which was used to protect the serums, as many of the cities have."

Victor and Federico narrowed their eyes. They weren't aware that anyone knew that they used the death serum as a protectant for anyone without a password to get into the serums labs without authorization. Harmony and Natalie looked at Victor and Federico with surprise, Trevor just looked bored.

"And how did you come by all this information?" Federico asked.

"Because we lived it," I spoke up. Putting Natalie and Tris out of my mind, I started focusing on the now and trying to save these people. "I am the secondary leader in our city. We are headed by one other, Johanna Reyes, former Amity."

I nodded to Harmony as a show of respect to her faction, "Since Amity was known for being the most peaceful, naturally, people elected her as their governing voice. What you don't understand is that you don't govern yourselves. You are an experiment. A government experiment. I'm sure on the other side of your city somewhere is another military base recording and analyzing everything we say and do."

"And just what do you want us to do about that?" Victor replied.

"I want you to fight!" I said. "I want you to be brave!"

"There's no room for bravery here, son. Again, I'm sorry you came so far to deliver this news, but we have no reason to believe this will actually happen," Victor said as he sat back in his chair.

"I'm not your son," I grumbled, nearly snarling. "And you're wrong."

That's when we it happened. The whole room began to shake and a large boom went off in the distance. I looked at my mother who looked at me and we knew we were already too late as crumbles of dust hit our heads.


	18. Chapter 17

We had entered the city through the north gate, as Nita indicated. It was odd that there were only a handful of guards. Nita shot them all without warning. As much as I was horrified at her coldness in displaying murder as an acceptable means to an ends, I kept my mouth shut. I would find these leaders, I would find Evelyn and Tobias as Matthew suggested and I would tell them everything.

We jumped on a nearby train that was running through the city. The feeling of jumping onto a moving train sent a thrill through me. It was as if I had been missing this feeling my whole life. We took the train down to the center of the city to the Erudite headquarters, or at least that's where Nita thought it was. I wasn't sure where she was getting information about where things were here. That cold feeling came over me again indicating that something was very wrong.

We jumped off the train a few blocks from our destination and walked the rest of the way. I could hear gun fire and screams as Nita's team began slaughtering the people on the street. It made my stomach turn at just how heartless her and her group was. These people did nothing to her. She just wanted the serum, nothing else.

A large boom went off in the distance and made me jump. "What was that?" I yelled at Nita. "Distraction," Nita said as she pulled her gun up to her shoulder, looked through the scope and continued walking towards the building in front of us.

It was marked at the top as the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library, but the symbol that dominated the doors was clearly Erudite. You could see the people in blue scattering all over the walkways. Gun toting people in black were herding them towards the walls of the buildings as firing squads took aim. I turned my head so I couldn't see. A stray tear dropped from my eyes.

"Come on, we don't have much time," Nita continued. "We have to get to the labs."

We entered the building and more chaos ensued. People were running and screaming and gun fire was permeating the air. Papers were strewn everywhere as people dropped what they were doing and tried to hid, only to have a gunman find them and shoot them. This was a massacre.

"Is this all really necessary? These people are innocent," I told Nita.

She spun on me, raising her gun, "You want to argue and become one of them?" she nodded to the pile of dead bodies in the corner, "or do you want to keep your pretty little mouth shut and do as you're told?"

I voted to keep my mouth shut. I couldn't help these people now, but I could try to stop Nita from getting the Death serum. If I had to die so that it would be kept out of her hands, so be it. I would sacrifice myself so that no other innocents would die. However, I wanted some answers first.

We walked side by side, Nita taking shots at people in her way, I was just holding my gun, never firing at anyone. It was when we reached the top floor at the end of a long hallway that someone poked their head out.

"Freeze!" Nita yelled as she ran towards the mysterious head that popped out of the last door.

"Please! Don't shoot!" a boy's voice pleaded. "Please don't kill me!"

Nita pressed the barrel of her gun to the boy's temple. He couldn't have been older than twelve. "Nita, that's not necessary," I pleaded with her.

"Of course it is!" she snapped and pressed the barrel harder against the boy's head. He was crying harder now.

"No, it's not!" I pushed her gun away from the boy and stood in front of him. "He may have information we could use. Killing everyone isn't the answer."

Nita gave me a hard look with her narrowed dark eyes, "Fine, we'll play it your way."

I moved out from in front of the boy and Nita's gaze turned to him, "Where is the Erudite leader's labs?"

"The labs?" the boy questioned.

Nita raised her gun, "Answer my question or you die, regardless if she wants you to live or not."

"Nita!" I hissed, but she ignored me.

"T-the l-labs aren't here," the boy started crying against.

"Where are they?" Nita asked in an angry tone.

"The health depot. We don't keep anything here but books," the boy answered. "Please, let me go."

"I don't think so," Nita said menacingly. "Seems like you'll be riding along to take us to where these labs are."

Just then Marcus rounded the corner. He looked flushed and dirty. His shirt was stained with blood, blood of innocents. I knew it was right to despise him. "Did you find it?" he asked.

"No, they are located off-site. This youngster is going to show us where," Nita said as she grabbed the boy by the back of the shirt and pulled him to his feet.

"Please, please don't hurt me. I know the labs are at the health depott, but I don't know where, nor do I have access. I'm just a boy!" he cried.

"Hush!" Nita smacked him across the face.

The boy's face dropped and he began to sob. I felt so bad for him. He was just a child. What could he really tell us about the labs or how to get inside of them?

"Why don't you look for an adult that could help Nita instead of killing them all? The boy is right, he can't help you, I mean, us. Let him go," I told her in a firm voice.

Nita threw the boy at me, "Then he's your problem then. Get rid of him. I don't much care how."

I grabbed the boy and he threw his arms around me, silently thanking me over and over again. I pulled him close. "Why don't you continue to look here, just in case? I'll take the boy and Marcus and we can go to the labs. Perhaps we can be successful in finding the serum."

Nita's eyes narrowed at my suggestion, then she looked like she was in deep thought. "You may just have a point there. Most places have the serums under lock and key, and protected by their own noxious death serum for anyone unauthorized. Perhaps you should go Tris, seeing how you are the only one to ever survive contact with the death serum."

I wasn't sure what she meant by that. I don't remember ever encountering the death serum, but I took her threat as real. Plus, this would give me a chance to get away from Nita, find the leader of Erudite and warn the city. Maybe, just maybe, I might find Evelyn and Tobias too.

Marcus, the young boy whose name was Christopher, and I all walked out of the building towards one of the large trucks parked at the entrance. Marcus motioned for us to climb aboard as he took the wheel. What shocked me most is what he said next, "We have to find the leaders. I spoke to a guard and said that they were all gathered at the Union Terminal for a meeting with some outsiders that came to the city. I'm curious about who might have come before us. Either way, we have to get to them."

"Why are you so concerned about the leaders?" I asked. I was suspicious of Marcus's motives.

"As much as this boy may think that the labs are located in the health depot, I'm sure that the serums we are looking for are located elsewhere. A place only the leaders have access to."

And there was there my suspicions were validated. I knew not to trust Marcus, but if the only want to get to the leader's to warn them was to bring Marcus with me, then so be it. He started up the truck and by the directions Christopher was giving us, we drove to the Union Terminal.

It was a large building, dome shaped with beautiful gardens all around. I was curious as to why there were no guards out front and none of Nita's group was here either. Seems they were trying to keep the groups contained within the city and the Union Terminal was located just outside of it, close to the fence. We drove all the way up to the doors and not a single person stopped us.

Marcus got out first and reached out to Christopher and me. We hopped down from the truck and headed towards the doors. That was when we were confronted with guards. They all wore black suits and black hats with plastic covering their faces. They had shields held in front of them and guns pointed at us from the sides.

"Freeze! Make yourself known!" one of the guards yelled.

Marcus was about to speak before Christopher interjected, "We escaped the Erudite headquarters, I've come here to be with my father."

I looked down at the boy and he shrugged. "The Erudite leader is my dad."

"Christopher?" one of the guards said, "Who are these people with you?"

"My friends, they saved me. I offered to bring them with me to protect them," the boy lied. He was actually quite believable. Perhaps Marcus was right and the labs weren't at the health depot, which is where Nita would soon be headed.

The guards looked at each other before settling on the guard that spoke to Christopher, "Let them through. Everyone is in the Rotunda."

Marcus walked in first with Christopher behind him and me behind Christopher. Mu gun was concealed in my pants and no one asked me to relinquish my weapon. We walked into the building and headed towards the group of people that were gathered in the center of the room.

"Papa!" Christopher yelled, but before he could get out of our grasp, Marcus grabbed him.

"Christopher!" a average height man with caramel colored skin and blue framed glasses yelled.

"Not so fast," Marcus said as he pulled the boy back. I stopped behind them to observe what Marcus would do. I wouldn't let him harm the boy and I certainly wouldn't let him harm the leaders. I needed them.


	19. Chapter 18

"Father?" I asked, completely caught unaware that he was even here, or even in this group of Nita's that had ransacked the city, killing hundreds of innocent people already.

The moment that the boy, Christopher, tried to run to Federico Marcus grabbed him by the neck of his shirt, pulling the boy back to him. There was one other person that was with him, but I couldn't see them because the guards swooped in like eagles to surround the group that entered the building.

"Marcus?" my mother asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I knew it might have been you two. So nice to see we can have a family reunion," Marcus said as he pointed his gun at the boy's temple. "And just so we're clear, I didn't come for you, I came for him."

He pointed his gun at Federico when he said that. I turned back to see the Erudite leader standing so completely still that I wasn't sure if he was breathing. What would Marcus want with the Erudite leader?

"And what is it that I can do for you, sir?" Federico answered, not even a hint of emotion in his voice.

"I want the serums. I want them all. So you'll give them to me and let me walk away or the boy will die," Marcus said as he returned the gun to the boy's temple. The young man began to cry, pleading for his left, saying that she promised him they wouldn't hurt him. That she said. Who was this she?

"No, you won't," a voice said from behind Marcus.

It was a voice that sent ice through my veins. It was a voice I never thought I would ever hear again. Could it really be? No, she was dead. It wasn't possible. I kept trying to tell myself it wasn't possible, up until I saw her move. I felt my heart stop beating and I stopped breathing.

"Tris?" my voice full of emotion croaked.

I'm sure it didn't even sound like I said her name, but she still looked at me. The same blue eyes, the same golden hair, but was longer now than when I saw her last. It was pulled up in a tight ponytail, the ends just touching her shoulders. Her build was leaner as if she lost a lot of muscle over time, but she looked older, harder. She glanced at me for probably a millisecond before returning her gaze on Marcus again.

"You won't touch the boy," she threatened, but Marcus didn't look scared.

I wanted to run to her, to kiss her, to wrap my arms around her, but my feet wouldn't move. My brain couldn't process this. Maybe it was a trick. That couldn't possibly be Tris. No way. I scattered her ashes. I saw her on the table the day she died. She was gone. My mother came up and touched my arm, whispering in my ear, "Don't do anything rash, Tobias. She doesn't know you anymore."

I turned my head so quickly that I felt the pop in my neck. "You knew?" I knew she knew something! In those labs, she found something she wouldn't share with me. She had to have known that Tris was alive and she never told me. Feeling that this betrayal was worse than Marcus beating me, I pulled away from her grip.

She dropped her gaze from mine and nodded in agreement, "I found her lab paperwork in the medical facility."

"Let me go," I said in a snarling tone. Why did the people closest to me have to end up lying to me or leaving?

"Tobias!" my mother warned.

The sound of my name rang in the Rotunda, enough for Tris to look back at me, her eyes narrowing. I didn't care what my mother said, she would remember me, I would make her remember me.

"Stay back!" she warned as I stepped towards them. "I will shoot him."

I put my hands up, "I know. It's okay. Tris, it's okay."

I could tell she was breathing rapidly; her eyes went wild as if she was a trapped animal in a cage. The guards started to move inward as well but I told them to stop. I was surprised when they followed my order. I looked at Marcus who was smiling like a sly thief. He knew something and he was delaying. I needed to find out, but first I had to get Tris and Federico's son away from him. Neither are safe with Marcus. Unconsciously I started to move forward again.

"I said don't move!" Tris yelled, pointing the gun at me.

I stopped walking, "Tris, please, it's me. Tobias."

Her gun was wavering, she was unsure what was going on it seemed. Remembering just how Evelyn put it, "She doesn't remember you anymore" put it all in perspective for me. Tris had been injected with a memory serum. She didn't know me. She probably didn't realize the group she was with, but at least her mistrust of Marcus was universal.

"I said don't move. I don't want to shoot you," she said.

I could almost shout with joy. She had some restraint. She didn't want to shoot me, but it seemed she would if she felt threatened. I had to make her think that she was going to be safe with me, with us. My heart was nearly bursting out of my chest at how elated I was that she was alive. Or at least I thought it was my Tris and not some government grown experiment clone of the Tris I loved.

"You're making a very big mistake, Tris," Marcus warned. "They will kill you and all of us without batting an eye. They don't care that we are stifled and forced to merge into a singular way of thinking. I know this because you are like me!"

"I am nothing like you!" Tris shouted back, her gun waving towards him.

Marcus was still standing in front with Christopher in his grip. Tris was to the right with the gun pointed to Marcus, and all the guards were pointing their guns at the both of them. This wouldn't end well if Victor didn't call off the guards. I needed to get to her.

I turned back to the circle of leaders, "Call them off Victor."

"Are you crazy?" he said. "That madman will kill us all. No way."

"At least have them readjust their aim to only the man, not the girl," I pleaded. I wouldn't let Tris get away again. If I was able to bring her back and remember me, I would never let her out of my sight again. Never.

The guards looked to Victor and he conceded. All the guns now pointed at Marcus and he was starting to get nervous. I could tell by the sweat on his brow because I was getting closer with everything distraction. The closer I got to Tris, the closer I was to making her remember.

As if she could read my thoughts her gun turned to me, "I told you to stay back!"

She shot at the ground next to me. I froze. I never thought she would ever shoot at me, ever. But she didn't shoot me, she shot near me. A warning. Okay, I can take a hint. With that I stopped moving, still keeping my hands in the air and she turned her gun back to Marcus.

"Let the boy go, now."

Marcus turned to Tris, "What? You think you can shoot me?"

"You want to make a bet?"

"Even knowing that these people plan to do the same thing they did in Chicago, you would save them?" Marcus accused.

"Well, that's splendid, if I only remembered what happened in Chicago!" Tris spat back at him.

So it was true. She was inoculated with a memory serum to make her forget. If I got my hands on Nita, she would be dead, and not in a quick way.

"Well, let me refresh your memory. The Erudite wanted to kill all the Divergent, so they brainwashed the Dauntless to seek out Abnegation and kill them all since our faction had the most population of Divergents. This included your poor parents. Sorry your mommy and daddy were killed. All because of you!"

"Liar!" Tris yelled as she pushed the barrel of her gun to Marcus's temple. "I should have killed you in Dayton, when I knew there was something that felt wrong about you. I knew it from the moment I saw you not to trust you."

Dayton? In the town we passed, we were so close. I could have saved her then. If I had only known. I listened to her conversation with Marcus carefully. He went on to tell her about all that happened, how she sacrificed herself, how she died, and how I was probably most certainly broken by it. The last part I knew was a lie, even if it was truthful. He had been banished from the city, he wouldn't have known, unless he was in league with Nita before then.

"Let him go!" Tris yelled at him, pressing the barrel of her gun to Marcus's temple.

Marcus let go of Christopher who ran to his father. They had a tight embrace as they reunited. I turned my focus back on Marcus and Tris. "Don't listen to him Tris, he tells nothing but lies."

It was my distraction that allowed Marcus the time to grab Tris and pull her to his chest. Her eyes left Marcus's for split second before he grabbed the gun away from her, pulled her into his chest, holding her in a choke hold with the gun against her head.

"No!" I yelled as I sprinted forward.

Marcus turned his gun on me next, "Not so fast, Tobias."

Tris tried to struggle, but couldn't against Marcus's grip. He was very strong considering he was born Abnegation and that was the faction he ended up running. Perhaps it was all those years of beating me with his belt that gave him his strength.

"I can see why you like her so much, perhaps love her," Marcus intoned.

"I do love her," I spat back at Marcus but looked at Tris, whose gaze was fixed on mine.

"Not a very pretty thing is she, but she sure is a spitfire. I bet she's lovely in bed," Marcus sneered as he caressed her cheek with the barrel of the gun.

I growled from deep in my gut. "I wouldn't know. And don't you dare touch her like that!"

"Oh, come on, Tobias. You mean to tell me that you never once took advantage of this little thing?" Marcus said as his free hand holding the gun grabbed Tris's hair and pulled her head back, exposing her neck and her tattoo. That's when I knew for sure it was her, not some experiment clone.

"You don't take advantage, lie to, or try to destroy those you love, father," I spat the word at him, "but that is something only you are accustomed to."

Tris's eyes even left mine and her breathing was slower. She was re-enacting what she did in her fear landscapes. I learned her tricks well since I was usually the one administering them to her. She was trying to control her breathing so that she could formulate an escape. It was then that she used the advice I gave to her long ago. She jabbed her elbow into Marcus's side and he doubled over. I jumped for his hand that held the gun and Tris turned back to kick him in the knees. I twisted his hand to free the gun, turned it on him and fired.

That was how I killed my father. It all happened so fast. The bullet went straight into his forehead and he slumped to the ground, a heap at my feet. It took a few seconds for me to process what I had done. So many times I had visualized this moment, but never thought I had it in me to do it. Now, for all the right reasons I did. I looked up at Tris who was standing next to me with a satisfied look on her face. I pulled her to me and kissed her lips. It was a hard kiss, one of loss and regret. She was stiff in my arms and soon her hands were pushing me back.

"What the hell?" she said.

"Remember me," I told her as I put my hand over her heart, like she did to me when I nearly killed her while under Jeannine's serum.

Tears streamed down my face. I kept my hand on her chest and my free hand that dropped the gun reached up to stroke her face, her hair, her collarbone that held the three ravens tattooed there, each symbolizing her family. She looked down at my hand over her heart and back up into my eyes that were leaking with tears.

"Please, remember," I choked out.

She stared at me for a long time before her eyes blinked several times. I could see the dawn of a new day rise in her as she spoke, "Tobias?"

"Yes," I said, anticipating what she would say.

She crushed her mouth to mine and whispered the words between breaths, "I remember!"


	20. Chapter 19

Everything came flooding back to me. My parents, Caleb, Christina, Tobias, everything, even the last few moments before I died, seeing Caleb rush into the room in a frantic. I remembered it all. The memory serum worked, but it wasn't as strong as my will. I knew there were things that my mind was trying to tell me, but the serum was too potent at the time. It wasn't until Tobias kissed me and I heard him repeat over and over to remember him. Something just clicked in my head. I had done the same thing for him while he was inoculated by Jeannine. Our love now knew no bounds.

I pressed myself against him, breathing in his scent. When I was dying, I never thought I would smell him again, much less kiss or touch him. It was a glorious feeling. I clung to Tobias as if I let go he would fade away like a dream. If this was a dream, I didn't want it to end. Here I was with him, together, and there wasn't anything I wanted more. I promised myself to make up for all the lost time we spent apart, well, not from any fault of our own because for all intents and purposes, I was dead.

Our small reunion caused a momentary lapse in memory of why I was there. I've had enough of forgetting things. Time to get to business. The faster we got rid of Nita and her gang of misfits, the faster we could head back to Chicago and start again. I tipped my head up and Tobias's forehead met mine. "Thank you," I said. "I love you."

"I love you," he said back, "Thank you for coming back to me."

I smiled, "Thanks for bringing me back." I tipped my head up the last few inches and met his lips in a quick kiss before I turned towards the group watching our short lived reunion, the most notable person being Tobias's mother, Evelyn.

I turned back to Tobias, "What's she doing here?"

I remembered the person that Evelyn was before I died. She wanted Chicago for herself. Granted she had a good idea in theory, but in practice, she was only creating chaos in Jeannine's wake. She didn't want Tobias and I together either. If anything, she was just as dangerous as Jeannine was. I remembered the discussion that Tobias and I had about him going back into the city to search out his father or his mother. I guess she won since Marcus was now dead at our feet. Holy crap. Marcus was dead and at our feet. Tobias killed him.

"She's here to help," Tobias said as he walked towards his mother. "She's not what you think she is Tris. Things have changed since you have been gone."

"I would say so," I replied as Tobias took my hand and guided me back towards the group of onlookers.

"Don't move," a guard said as he stepped in front of us with his gun raised.

"Federico, please, everything is fine. Tris won't hurt anyone," Tobias pleaded and looking at his mother, "Tell them. She won't hurt them."

Evelyn looked at Tobias with sympathy in her eyes, "Are we sure that it's really her and not some plant?"

Tobias looked at me then back at his mother, "I know it's Tris. I would be able to tell the difference. If you trust me, then trust my judgment on this matter."

Evelyn hesitated for a moment, eyes locked on Tobias then switching to me. I gave her a hard stare. I dare her to speak against Tobias. I dare her. Her expression was the same as mine, as if to tell me not to hurt her son. Did she really think I would ever hurt him?

"I trust you, but I'm not sure I trust her," Evelyn said.

"Mom," Tobias started before Evelyn interrupted.

"No, Tobias. She's been dead for two and a half years. How do we know it's really her? We can't know. We can't trust her. As much as she may look, feel, or talk like Tris, we have no idea of knowing if that's still the same Tris you knew before."

Tobias looked at me as he turned away from his mother, "Tell me the truth. Are you really her?" His voice was full of raw emotion. He had been hurting bad since I died. I wanted to sooth him so bad, but I knew I had to tread carefully.

"Tobias, it's me. I promise with all my heart and soul that there is no other like me," I grabbed his hands in mine while I spoke to him, never glancing away from his gaze. "Do you remember the night before I died? Before I took Caleb's place and you went back into the city?"

Tobias looked down at our joined hands, "Yes, I do."

"Do you remember the conversation we had that night, about our genes?"

Tobias's hesitated and then looked up into my eyes, "Yes…"

"I reminded you that you were whole, that you're worth loving, that you're the best person I've ever known, no matter what Matthew said about your genes."

Tobias's eyes widened, "Yes, you did."

"And then you said to me…"

"No one has ever told me that before," he interrupted softly before he raised my hands to his lips and kissed them softly before turned back to his mother, "If you can't trust that I say this is Tris; then you don't trust me at all. This is her, not some plant. She wouldn't know intimate details of conversations on her and I had. This is her."

Evelyn looked tired as she let out a sigh. It was the small Hispanic looking man that talked first, "Well then, since it seems our city and our lives are in your hands Tobias Eaton, it seems we will have to trust your judgment. However, if it comes to fruition that she is in fact a fraud and working for these murders, not only will we have to put her to death, but we will also hold you responsible as well."

"Federico—"

"I'm sorry Ms. Eaton, he has made his decision. We have made ours."

"But—"

"This is not negotiable," Federico looked at Evelyn with a hard stare, willing her to challenge his authority. After all, he was the leader of this city.

Evelyn conceded and bowed her head, giving up the fight, "Very well."

Federico turned towards us again, "So, what you do know and just how do you expect us to defend ourselves?"

I began telling them about everything. I told them about when I encountered Nita at the labs, her injecting me with the memory serums, our escape, meeting with the people on the fringe, all the details up until I came into this building with Marcus and the boy, Christopher. Everyone listened attentively. Tobias listened very carefully to all the words I was saying, glancing at his mother who wasn't even looking at out, instead she was staring at the floor. I could tell he was getting agitated by the way he kept clenching his fist at his side and the grip on my own hand that he hadn't let go of. I was pretty sure he would eventually break my hand if he squeezed hard enough, though I didn't want to lose the contact with him either. The warmth of his palm, whether or not if it was sweating, was reassuring and comforting.

"So that's what happened, all of it that I can remember," I finished, tired of talking and ready to get to action.

The group of leaders in Cincinnati all looked at me, jaws agape. Finally the woman, Abnegation I presumed from her outfit and hair, stood and spoke, "You are saying that because you are a Divergent, you are resistant to even the Death Serum? That this medical facility you spoke about, managed to bring you back from a real death?"

"I survived the death serum, but not without trying. It was the gunshot to the back that killed me. The last thing I remember before waking up in the medical center was floating on a lake, having a picnic with my parents, who are both dead by the way."

The woman sat down in her seat and looked a bit out of sorts. The taller man, obviously from Dauntless, and who I learned earlier was named Victor, spoke next, "So say that this is all true and some secret government is keeping people, who are resistant to serums, Divergent you call them, and testing on them, how do we really know that maybe they didn't plant some sort of bug on you so they could infiltrate our own cities?"

Victor had a very good point, but I couldn't answer his question. It was one I had thoughts about myself. I still wasn't sure what the Doctors and Nurses were discussing when saying they were planning to send me to this specific city. I didn't share that information with them either. "I'm not sure, but I can tell you that I want to help you. I don't mean to infiltrate you. What needs to happen is someone to go after Nita and her group and stop them. Believe me when I say that they mean to destroy this city and everyone in it."

There was an edge to my voice that had each leader looking at each other before Victor spoke, "Lead the way."


	21. Chapter 20

Victor and the other leaders of Cincinnati split up the groups of who would go where and do what. I was obviously going to be with Tris. I won't let her out of my sight ever again. Not that I would deny her independence, but never in an instance where life and death were real possibilities would I ever let her go at it alone. Never again.

Tris indicated that Nita was looking for where the Death Serum was. Since Tris knew about where Nita was headed Victor and the other Dauntless would go after Nita while Tris and I went to the Old City Hall, where the actual serums were located. Natalie and Harmony were set out to gather any remaining survivors and bring them here. That seemed to be the safest place at the moment as no one from Nita's team had tried to infiltrate it yet. We could only hope that because this train station was so far removed from the rest of the city that they would overlook it as a possible faction location.

After a while a table was set up with munitions and weapons of all calibers. Tris and I were gathering weapons and stuffing them into our pockets when Tris turned towards me, "Tobias?"

Her eyes were wild, she looked scared. Tris was hardly ever scared, so I stopped loading my gun and put it down on the counter, grabbing her hands, bringing them to my lips and kissing her knuckles, "Yes?"

"If Nita…" she starts then stops.

I could see the lump in her throat and the wet look in her eyes. I pulled her to me so her head was tucked under my neck. I whispered into her hair, "Nita won't do anything and nothing will happen to either of us. I won't let that happen."

Tris looked up at me with all the love that was always there and smiled before she nodded her head and turned away to finish loading her own weapon. I couldn't help but want to touch her. It had been so long. I found my eyes start to water even thinking about it. I wonder now whose ashes I scattered if Tris was right here in front of me. Flesh and bone. Her hair had grown back to its long length. It wasn't quite as long as when we first met, but it wasn't the short pixy cut it was when she died. I liked this style better. I wanted to run my hands through it, knot it up in my fist and pull her head back towards me so I can steal a kiss.

"Tobias?" I heard my mother call, "Can I speak with you…privately, please?"

"Just a moment," I turned to Tris, kissed her forehead and walked towards my mother who was wringing her hands. It was a nervous habit she had when there was something unsavory she wanted to discuss. "What is it?"

"Please don't go," she asked.

"Mom, please. You came here to help these people, now you don't want us to help?" I asked her incredulously.

"We are helping! We warned them. It's up to them to do something about it!" Evelyn snapped. This wasn't like her and it definitely wasn't what we talked about on the drive down here.

"What's really wrong?" I asked her and saw her gaze land on Tris. I turned to look at Tris who was busy talking with Natalie. "Is it Tris?"

"Of course it is! How do we know she's just not telling you that she's here to help us? How do I know she's not just going to turn on you and kill you? I can't know that, and I can't let you leave with her."

"Mom.."

"Don't Mom, me. That's it Tobias. I won't have it. I was forced away from you once, I won't be again," she threatened and it was then that I noticed the misting in her eyes.

I let out a huff of breath from my nose and pulled her into me for a hug. She started to cry on my shoulder as she whispered that she loved me and didn't want me to get hurt and how she couldn't bear for anything to happen to me.

"Mom, listen. If I really thought Tris would hurt me, do you really think I would go with her?"

"You don't know that you wouldn't, son. You've been grieving for years over her. I know you loved her…"

"I do love her."

"I know," she waved her hands to dismiss the reply, "but she may be a totally different person. Damaged even."

"And what about when I thought I was damaged. Tris stood by me. She made me feel whole again. She loved me regardless that I wasn't really Divergent and she was. She didn't care. She loved me for me."

If only I could get my mother to see Tris as the person I saw her as. A strong, beautiful, brave girl who was willing to sacrifice, and did, herself for those she loved. How could she not want this for me? Tris was the best thing that ever happened in my life. She made me feel accepted and that I didn't need to hide from my fears anymore. She made me feel whole. Tris gave me the courage to face my fears, to face my father, and to take a position that would help people. I credited all my success to her.

"Please don't do this Tobias," my mother looked up at me with tears in her eyes, "Please don't go."

I shook my head, I couldn't let her make me stay just to make herself feel better. That's when I remembered the medical facility, the same facility that Tris described and the room that she was held in. That was the same room that my mother was in when I found her. "You knew didn't you?"

The change in subjects confused her, "Knew what?"

"You knew she wasn't dead, didn't you?" I accused her. I knew she was looking at a chart of some sort before she threw into the flames before I could see them.

Her silence was her answer. I shook my head and walked away.

"Tobias!" Evelyn shouted.

"No!" I turned towards her in anger, pointing my finger at her. "You knew! You knew this whole time and you didn't tell me!"

"I was trying to protect you!" she yelled back, tears streaming down her face.

"Protect me from what? Finding her again? Reuniting? I knew you never liked us together, but that isn't your choice to make!"

"Tobias, please," she begged.

"No. I won't let you beg me to stay. I'm going with Tris. We're going to end this now. And then we are going to get in the car and head back to Chicago, together. When we get back, I think it would be wise to find a place of your own."

I didn't even hear her reply, I only heard her sobs as Tris ran up to me.

"What's wrong?" Tris asked.

"It's nothing to concern yourself over. Let's just go so we can get back to Chicago. I'm tired of this place already."

She didn't say anything more. Tris simply took my hand, nodded her head and walked with me out of the door.

Tris's plan was that Victor and his men were going to head to the Health Depot that Christopher told Nita about. We hoped she would be there and Victor could put an end to this once and for all. Tris and I were out to the Old City Hall where the serums were actually kept. Tris did get a lot of pushback on that plan, claiming they didn't want outsiders to know where their serums were located, but we made the point that Tris had survived the death serum once before, she was the only logical choice. I took one last look at my mother who was sitting apart from the group staring off into space before I turned my back, grabbed Tris's hand and walked out of the building.


	22. Chapter 21

We grabbed one of the Dauntless patrol vehicles when we left as we headed towards the Old City Hall building in the middle of the city. It was a large truck like the Amity had back in Chicago, or at least it reminded me of them. These vehicles didn't carry fruits and vegetables into the city, these carried people. The back end was closed up and there were benches on either side of the truck bed for people to sit. We were escorted with a number of Dauntless that looked bored to even be going on a city rescue mission.

Cincinnati seemed so much bigger than Chicago. Perhaps it's because more of the city is intact so not as much as cordoned off from the public. Things were spread out a little further here than where we were from. There were highways that took you to different areas of the city, large structures used for a multitude of events, or at least that is what we were told by our Dauntless counterparts that came with us to the Old City Hall. I guess they still didn't trust me. Well, I did come in with Marcus, swinging a gun, and holding their Erudite leader's son hostage. That was more Marcus than I though.

The Old City Hall was an old building. From what we were told it was built way before the Purity Wars and it managed to survive. Old City Hall is a large light tan brick structure that looked more like an ancient castle than a place where government officials used to gather. It had arched topped windows, high pitched red roofs and sky scraper tall towers adorning the corners. I would have never thought that serums would have been held in such a building, it looked so old I would be afraid that it would fall apart.

A large booming sound heralded above us. The Dauntless guards with us told us it was the large clock on the tower. It rang out at each hour. It was now five in the evening. We all looked around from the windows and spotted no black clad enemies with guns in their hands. The Dauntless guards who sat with us in the back, who we learned their names were Sully and Dawn, said they would be able to recognize any other Dauntless we may have come across. That no one was here was a good sign. It means Nita doesn't know the real location of the serums, so Victor will capture her at the Health Depot. I could only hope that this could go smoothly. It seemed like we had luck on our side. We would head into the Old City Hall, grab the serums, bring them back to the compound and make sure they were protected or destroyed.

"Okay, Tobias and I need to go in and secure the serums before Nita and her group can get their grimy hands on it. I'm hoping that Victor caught them and they are in custody now, but there isn't a way of knowing that just yet. Let's just keep our guard up and we can be in and out in a matter of minutes."

Dawn and Sully both nodded at me as they jumped out of the vehicle, their eyes on the scopes of their rifles checking the perimeter. Tobias grabbed my arm before I too jumped out. He pulled me back to him and kissed me hard on the mouth. I could get used to this. The feeling of his lips on mine, his presence, everything about him soothed my heart. "Be careful," he warned as he let me go.

I just smiled at him, leaned back in for a small kiss on his cheek, "If I was careful, I wouldn't need my dark knight to come save me."

"Your dark knight, huh?" Tobias smirked.

"Well, Dauntless colors are black, and you are wearing all of it. Not like you have on shiny armor or anything," I laughed at him as I pulled my gun from my hostler and jumped out of the truck.

"Tris!" Tobias yelled as I turned around and saw we weren't alone, and the guards we came with weren't necessarily on our side either. We were surrounded and the sound of bullets entering chambers in the guns that were pointed at us only confirmed that we were in big trouble.

"Don't make a move or they will shoot," a familiar voice said from around the corner. I could now pinpoint exactly whose voice it really was. Nita. "Drop the weapons and put your hands in the air."

"Not likely," I replied hotly. I wouldn't go without a fight and I sure as hell wasn't going to give up my gun. I put my back to the door of the vehicle, keeping Tobias from exiting. I know that Nita wanted me; she could care less about Tobias.

"Oh, Tris. When will you ever learn? I helped you escape and this is how you reward me?" Nita spat as she came into the clearing and I could see her face to face.

"You didn't save me, you enslaved me!" I yelled back at her. "Taking my memories from me, that is not freeing!"

"Whatever you want to think, but I saved you from those psycho doctors who would have planted you here just to destroy the city anyways and under their orders. How would you have felt to see your lovely Tobias; yes, I'm aware he's in the truck; and shoot him without even knowing it was him?"

"That wouldn't have ever happened," I would have forced myself to remember. My will was greater than any serum.

"So you may think. Now you are here anyways, but fighting for the wrong team I see. We are the future Tris. This is what is to be of these cities," Nita recited with her hands outstretched as if her version of the future was any better than being forced into factions.

Her way was only another form of slavery without the prospect of protection or safety. Nita's version of her ideal world is people fending for themselves. She reminded me a lot of Evelyn and how she wanted change in the system, but no real plan put in place for all the people who currently lived in it. Nita's way was harsh. She just planned to murder everyone and let her band of misfits come into the city and reap the benefits.

"If you think we would let you destroy another city like you tried to do to Chicago, you have another thing coming, Nita" Tobias finally spoke up as he pushed me away and jumped down to my side. "These may not be our people, this may not be our city, but I'll be damned if I let you carry on murdering people."

"Oh, Tobias. Poor little boy. You have no idea what you are trying to prevent. These people are liars. They hold these people hostage in their own little minds getting them to do what they want, not what they want," Nita replied with an expression of disgust.

"And your plan is just to murder everyone living here. How is that any better? Instead of trying to help, you just want to rebuild from your own deluded perception of what you think a utopian society should be," Tobias spit out. His grip on his gun was strong and hard as his knuckles turned white.

"I'm not deluded, you are. And so is Tris," Nita's attention turned to me, "you know he isn't good enough anymore. You know he's damaged. Why are you helping him?"

"He's not damaged," I answered when I saw Tobias go stiff as a board. "And it wouldn't matter even if he was. I'm here helping him because I love him and it's the right thing to do."

"Oh, pity. Love is such a fickle beast. Guess we will just have to kill you both then," Nita said as all the persons surrounding us raised their weapons and we raised ours.

I looked around noticing some of the guards I saw in the Dauntless compound as joined Nita's cause, or she had an insider this whole time helping her with this attack. Behind Nita I noticed Mary, Rafi, and Marco. Marco was smirking at me like he knew something I didn't. I wasn't so anxious to find out what that was. I knew what Nita wanted from me, it hadn't changed. If I didn't play along, she would certainly kill Tobias and I wouldn't let that happen.

I lowered my gun. Tobias looked at me with questions in his eyes, or rather shock, "What do you want from us Nita?" I asked exasperated. I dropped my weapon and nodded to Tobias to do the same. I raised my hands and waited for her answer as Marco moved forward to frisk us both.

"What I've wanted all along. You, Tris. I need you to go inside and get the serum for us," Nita replied. "We'll make sure your little boy toy is well taken care of until we have what we want."

Marco's hands clapped together and he rubbed them anxiously after he was sure we had no other weapons on us. I'm sure that Nita and her gang would certainly take care of Tobias. I was out of bargaining chips and I couldn't take on all these people by myself even with Tobias. We would be shot and killed before we could even think of beginning our life again together. I had no choice. I had to cooperate with her. Not just for this city's stake, or mine, but for Tobias.

"Fine. I'll do as you ask. But afterwards I want your promise that we can leave, unharmed, together."

Nita smiled, she knew she was getting her way. "Well then, come with me princess."


	23. Chapter 22

Marco shoved Tobias to the ground as I started to walk away. I turned to yell at him only to meet the end of a double barrel shotgun to the face. "Don't try anything or I'll make sure you never come back," Mary threatened. I knew I didn't like her. She also wouldn't hesitate to shoot me in the face either.

I looked at Tobias and he shook his head at me as if to tell me not to cause trouble. I knew he could take care of himself, but it didn't mean I didn't worry about his safety with these people. I saw how they acted in their own environment. It was survival of the fittest. They would kill someone over a drink if they thought they were entitled to it. I didn't take my eyes off of Tobias as I saw Mary out of the corner of my eye pressing the barrel of her gun closer to my face. I whispered, "Be brave" before I turned around and followed Nita who was standing just outside the crowd with her hands on her hips.

"Don't try anything stupid, you hear me?" Nita spat as we started to climb the steps leaded to two large wooden doors at the entrance of the Old City Hall. I didn't answer her, mainly because I didn't have anything nice to say.

Upon entering we were greeted with a large marble staircase that went up at least three floors. Each landing had three stained glass window pictures depicting certain scenes that were described on a plaque by each window. I didn't have time to really admire them, Nita being at my back and all directing me up the stairways. We climbed up to the top floor and Nita indicated for me to just start opening doors.

"The serums should be in one of the rooms in this building. I'm going to have you search every one until we find them."

"There could be hundreds of rooms," I protested. This was likely to take a long time.

"And?" Nita asked with her brow arched. "I've got the gun, so get moving. The longer you take, the more time Marco has with your little boy toy."

"He's not a boy toy!" I turned and yelled at her.

"Well, whatever he is, he's not any use anymore. If you had just stayed with me, he probably might live a very happy life."

Anger was seething through me. I hated her more than anyone I've ever hated; more than Jeannine, more than Eric, more than Peter, and more than Marcus or Evelyn. If I had lasers for eyes I would take my time having them split her wide open. I took that anger and put it towards finding these serums and collecting them before Nita could. I had an advantage. I was resistant to the death serum and a lot of other serums. Nita and her gang were not. That's when I started to formulate my plan.

I opened each door and peered inside. None of the offices were locked and they all had a desk or two insider with chairs and papers strewn everywhere. I doubt that the serums were contained in any of these rooms on the top floor. Most of the doors on this level were labeled with things like "Transportation" or "Permits". These were just administrative offices. When I gave the all clear we started down the staircase to the next level where I checked all those rooms as well. Those offices must have belonged to some higher personnel as the desks were broader and darker in color. The chairs were tall backed and had nice supple leather. Framed documents were hung on the walls and piles of official looking documents littered the desk tops. I did shuffle around and peer at the documents as if they could tell me where the serums were located. They were mostly documents indicating farming regulations with Amity, patrol schedules and payments for Dauntless, laws to put into effect from Candor and a multitude of other things that didn't include the location of serums.

There was a door on the same level that had writing on the top; it was a little faded but still legible. It read, "Council of Cincinnati" at the top in gold lettering. I proceeded through the doors to a large open room. In front of me was a white bannister that allowed me to look down into a pulpit lined with wooden desk and chairs. A solitary desk sat in the middle of the floor facing the others and it had four bowls that lined the center. This was the Choosing Room they used for their ceremonies. The room wasn't very big, perhaps here in this city, the ceremony isn't as much of a to do like it is in Chicago. Maybe they have different traditions in these factions compared to what I grew up with. Usually the Choosing Ceremony was a rite of passage. Whole families came out to watch as their children chose to stay or leave their current factions. It was a happy and somber time.

I can remember the looks on both my parent's faces when Caleb and I chose a different faction from the one we had been born in. I had thought my brother would have chosen to stay Abnegation, but looking back, him choosing Erudite was the right choice. Caleb was a nerd for knowledge and now I can look back and actually see it, where at the time, living under my parent's roof, I didn't always pick up on the fact that Caleb was just as good at hiding things as I tried to be. That day of the ceremony, the look of disappointment when Caleb chose Erudite and the shock when I chose Dauntless was a look that I wouldn't be able to replace in my mind.

"Find anything yet?" Nita asked as she walked up behind me.

"Not yet. This is just the room they must use for the Choosing Ceremony. Nothing would be in here," I replied as I turned around and walked out of the room.

"Why are you trying to save them?" Nita asked. It wasn't snarky or mean, it was a simple question. She was curious as to my motives.

"Because people should have the choice to live as they choose, not be dictated to. We all deserve to make our own destiny," I replied blandly as I descended the stairs again to the next level.

"What if I told you that I agreed?"

"I wouldn't believe you," I walked into an office labeled Law Enforcement.

"Why wouldn't you believe me?" Nita asked as she followed me around, checking room after room of nothing. We saw lots of equipment, but again, nothing to indicate that there was any sort of secret hiding somewhere.

I was tired of the small talk. I knew what Nita and her group were about, but they were going about it all wrong. Instead of trying to help enlighten these people about the government that is controlling them, she is only trying to take the governments place. "Because Nita, your methods are wrong, and I know you know that. Killing innocent people just because they live this life is not justice. It's genocide."

"Sometimes you have to make great sacrifices to obtain the order of the world," Nita replied.

"So said Hitler," I mumbled remembering my history lessons of the pre-purity war times when conflict rose everywhere and people with good intentions did terrible things in the name of justice and what was right.

"Who's Hitler?" I heard Nita ask as I again went down the last flight of stairs to the bottom floor.

"You're more uneducated that I gave you credit for, Nita," I snarled.

"Hey!" Nita said as she grabbed my arm and spun me around. I nearly lost my footing, almost tumbling down the marble staircase. "You don't know me!"

"That's right, I don't know you!" I snapped as I turned and briskly walked down the stairs. Nita was trying to keep up with me until I broke out into a run towards a sign called "Mayor's Office". I opened the door and pushed it closed behind me.

I heard the blast before I saw the chunks of wood blow out by my head. She was firing at me. I ducked low and twisted the lock on the door. I hear her boom on the door as she attempted to come in after me.

"You had better come out of here or I'll kill him Tris!" Nita warned.

She was talking about Tobias. I couldn't worry about him now. I had to find those serums or we were all dead anyways. I pulled a heavy chair over and braced it in front of the doors.

"Tris!" Nita yelled as I ran to the desk and opened all the drawers, flipped over pages and frantically tried to find anything that may house these serums. Each second the doors continued to bow and blasts continued to blow out parts of the doors. Now there were holes that Nita could see me through and she put the barrel of her gun through and fired. I ducked under the desk just in time as splinters hit my cheek from the impact.

"I'll get in there!" Nita screamed as she continued to plow into the door with no luck.

That's when I saw a small red button on the bottom of the desktop. It was a hidden button from plain sight, but I could see it plain as day now that I was under the desk trying not to get shot. I pressed the button and I heard a scraping sound. Peering around the corner of the desk I saw the bookcase against the wall slide to the side, revealing a staircase down. Maybe this is where the serums were.

"You had better bring those serums to me Tris!" Nita screamed again. She was closer to the doors opening and more than likely she would kill both me and Tobias. Her gun went off again, closer to the edge of the desk as I pulled my head back in to my cover.

I had to move. I had to get to that staircase, but the likelihood I would get shot was high. The likelihood that Nita could shoot me through the desk was just as high as well. I was stuck and I had to make a decision. I rather gave up and let Nita in, who would likely kill me after I got her the serums, then kill Tobias out of spite, or I run for it and attempt to free myself, Tobias, and this whole damned city from Nita's grasp.

I took a few short breaths, made up my mind and ran.


	24. Chapter 23

I felt the sharp pain as the bullet sliced past me. Once I made it into the dark tunnel beyond and below the bookcase I felt my side and my hand came away wet. Great, she nicked me. The pain wasn't too bad, but it did hurt. I continued down the stairs without a light. I held onto the walls and made sure of my footing before taking the next step. I wasn't sure when it would stop or how far I would have to go. I only had a sliver of light before that went out from the bookcase sliding back into place and Nita's threatening scream over the sound of wood scraping stone. My heart was racing and my anxiety was peaking. I really hope I was doing the right thing.

The bookcase closed with a resounding boom and then there was silence. Light began to flicker and soft light glows along the walls. The staircase wound down a bit further until I came to an open room. There was one other tunnel leading off to the left, but it was the blue glow from the door in front of me that caught my attention. It was a freezer door that held the serums. Each was lined up and labeled behind the protective glass. There were even more serums listed here than I knew about in Chicago too. In addition to the memory, happy, truth, and death serums, there were serums for subservience, vision, and one that I thought was interesting called "Resurrection".

I pulled on the handle of the door that held the serums, but it wouldn't budge. Maybe there was a key that I missed in the office, but I didn't see a key hole. That's when I noticed the key pad. Now I was really out of luck. There was some code to open the door and the Erudite leader didn't inform me of such a thing.

That's when I started to smell the gas. The soft hissing of the toxin filling the chamber was the only sound I heard. I covered my mouth and frantically looked around for any way that I could get away from the gas, but it was filling up everywhere. The tunnel on the left looked just as dark and filled with the toxin as the chamber I was in. There was no escaping it. I had to calm down. I had been through this before. Knowing it was useless to cover my mouth, instinctually I did anyways. This gas would transmit through my skin to get inside me.

My vision began to go spotty and my head was dizzy. I swayed as I caught the wall with my free hand before my feet gave out from under me. The heavy weight of the gas was starting to fill my lungs. Pulling my shirt over my nose and mouth I tried to see if it would help but my limbs were going numb and I fell to the floor. I started to panic as I lay as a heap on the floor and my vision went dark.

I tried to calm my mind and tell myself to fight these effects. I had done so before, I can do it again. I kept my mind on Tobias. Poor Tobias. From all he has been through, dealing with my death a second time would kill him. I wouldn't let that happen. I wouldn't let myself go again like I had before. In Chicago I gave myself freely to save my friends and family. I sacrificed myself for the right reasons. As it turned out I survived the death serum, it was just David's delusions that brought about my death. But it was so peaceful in death. I had everything there. My parents were happy and I was happy. I wasn't sure at this moment what I wanted more. Tobias or the feeling of peace. No. I had to fight this. It's the gas that makes your mind go crazy with thoughts about giving into death. I wouldn't condemn Tobias with me.

No one was here now. It was just me and me alone. No one would shoot me, well, except for Nita if she ever made it down here. I hoped she tried and then get caught in the cloud of death. That would certainly fix my problem. I was a heap on the ground. I heard nothing other than the beating of my heart as it began to slow. My lungs burned with ferocity from the lack of oxygen to my system. I would die here just like this.

I felt a grip on my arm. I thought they were pains shooting up through my chest, but after a few seconds I noticed that something was beating on my chest. I could smell fresh air through my nostrils and I gasped for the fresh air. My eyes bulged open and I saw the familiar face of a small boy in front of me. He had a mask that was elongated in the front like a snout. His voice sounded cavernous.

"Dad sent me to come help you. Are you okay?" Christopher asked as he placed a mask over my own face. He was wearing a green plastic suit that covered him from head to toe. Looked like some sort of protectant suit against the gas. Smart boy.

I shook my head because I wasn't sure I could talk just yet. I saw the outline of the mask he placed on my head. I must have the same kind of mask as him because I reached up and felt my own snout. Gas masks. I admitted to the Erudite and Dauntless leaders that I was immune to this gas, but its effects still had a hold on me. While now I could breath and my mind was started to clear, there was still haziness in my mind and I shook my head to try and clear it.

"My dad gave me the code to the door, and then you can get the serums and bring them back," Christopher explained as he stood up and went towards the refrigerator that held all the potent toxins.

I watched him for a few moments before I started to move. He was swift and pressed the buttons like it was recorded to memory already. I had a bad feeling this boy knew more than he was telling me or anyone else. The last button he pressed set off a green light and the door pushed open lightly. I stood up, bracing against the wall, and stumbled towards the open container that held the serums. I looked over Christopher's shoulder and he looked up at me with a grin.

"Take it all. The less we leave for them to find the better."

I nodded in agreement and started to pack my pockets full of syringes full of different types and colors of liquids. I picked up a few extra of everything, including the Resurrection serum that caught my interest. I stared at it a long time before I had the nerve to pick it up. Perhaps Matthew, if I ever saw him again, would be able to test this, and then test me to see if they used this to bring me back. I stuffed it down the front of my shirt into the sports bra that Mary had given to me along with the other ratty clothes there were donated.

"Which way out?" I finally spoke; my voice was raw as if my throat had been clawed. The gas must be having some sort of effects on me.

"Through the tunnel. It leads to a door just outside of where that group that ambushed you is at. You should be able to slip past them."

"I have to get Tobias. Go ahead and alert the others. We'll be right behind you," I told Christopher as I followed him down the dark tunnel. The gas had stopped pouring into the enclosure, but it still lingered there. I wonder if there was some sort of kill switch that Christopher had triggered.

Just as we were half way down the tunnel I could hear the screeching of bookcase sliding. Nita had finally found her way down to the room. I hope she dies there the petty part of me said. I had to keep reminding myself that Nita was just as misguided as a lot of other people hoping to bring change. Like Evelyn. She wanted so badly to help the factionless that instead of finding a functional way everyone could cooperate together, she destroyed the only foundation people knew. Nita just wanted to murder everyone and begin anew with her own group of criminals. No, I couldn't worry about Nita and her band of misfits. I had to get myself out of this tunnel before she started blindly shooting, and I had to get to Tobias before anything happened. Please don't let anything have happened to him.


	25. Chapter 24

The tunnel we were running down was long and windy. I was glad I had Christopher with me to guide me through the dark corridor otherwise I wasn't sure I could have made it out by myself without going back through the bookcase and into the Old City Hall, which was were Nita was. Finally we got to the end of the tunnel that led to a door to the outside. Bright light shot out from the underneath of the door sill and he slowly pushed it open. It creaked loudly like it needed oil. My ears were sensitive to the sound and I turned my head quickly to keep an eye out for Nita who most likely heard the echo of the door opening. Before I could say anything, Christopher rushed out of the door just as a bullet zinged by him and hit the inside of the metal door.

"You won't get out alive, Tris!" Nita yelled through the tunnel. She was getting closer and I could hear her feet pounding on the concrete floor. I turned but couldn't see her yet.

Another bullet zinged by again, this time closer to my head and I ducked. I could almost faintly see Nita's outline as she ran with her hand holding the gun outstretched. Crap. I was in trouble now. My heart pounded as I rushed for the open door as another bullet grazed my leg. I yelped as I pushed the door open and slammed it back closed, holding my body against the door as Nita pounded on it.

I looked up to see a group of people circling the door I just came out of. Christopher was with his father, Federico while the other misfits of Nita's gang looked on. Mary and Rafi looked on in disappointment, as if they expected me to come out this way instead of through the Old City Hall entrance with Nita. They had sent Christopher in as a ploy. That made my blood boil. I looked around to Tobias and saw that he was being held up by Marco and he looked worse for wear. I looked around like a wild animal, we'd been deceived.

"Thank you for retrieving the serums, Tris. This will be most useful," Federico purred as he patted his son on the head and stalked towards me.

"Traitor!" I spat back at him. It seems that Chicago wasn't the only city were the Erudite were deceiving liars that only thought of themselves.

"Traitor? No, I believe you have me all wrong Tris. The traitor is you and your friend here. Trying to stop a natural progression of life is treason. This is the way it's supposed to be. And in this life, you are supposed to be dead."

Federico reached his hand out towards Mary who looked smug and she handed him a gun that he raised and pointed at me. Tobias wrestled within Marco's hold as much as he could, though he looked ready to collapse where he was. Tobias from what I could see had two black eyes and a swollen jaw. He had blood on his shirt and rips on his abdomen. His arm looked lip in Marco's hold and I saw that he favored his left side more than the right. Marco had done a number on him, but I was grateful he was still alive. I swore to myself that there would be vengeance for that happened here, both for me, this city and the innocents in it, as well as what they have done to Tobias. I would kill them all.

"Now, move away from the door and let Nita out," Federico ordered as he cocked the gun, a revolver, in his grip and settled his sights on me. His tone was polite, but stern. I hated him.

"No!" Tobias shouted but his language was more garbled and hard to understand. The struggled he put up in Marco's arms, as well as shouting caused some blood to spit out of his mouth.

Federico just laughed and shook his head, "See what we've done to him? I could put him out of his misery. It would be a great mercy to do so."

Federico turned towards Tobias and put the barrel of the revolver up against his temple.

"No! Wait! I'll let her out. Please, don't hurt him anymore," I pleaded. If I had to let them go about and murder this city, I would let them to keep Tobias safe. I knew it was the wrong decision, but I didn't care. I couldn't live without him. I wouldn't live without him. I moved away from the door just as Nita burst out from the entrance and fell onto the ground. She must have been trying to charge the door to open it and I nearly giggled when she sprawled all over the ground.

"You little bitch!" Nita screamed as she picked herself up and ran towards me. She knocked me to the ground and began beating her fists about my face. I put my arms up to protect myself just as Tobias had taught me years ago. I used my elbows to clock her in the jaw to throw her off balance and I bucked her off of me. She got up and attacked me again, this time with her feet, trying to kick me in the leg where blood was welling up. I blocked her kick and pushed her foot away as I came after her. Tobias had always told me that I was quick and I should be the first to attack, then they wouldn't be able to touch me. I pushed her back with both hands and as she began to recover, I punched her in the stomach then up into her jaw again. I turned and kicked her in the knees to drop her to the ground.

"Stop!" Federico commanded just as I was about to jump on top of Nita and give her a beating she was worthy of. Nita, who was looking murderous, huffed in place as she grabbed her chin to pull it back into place, holding her gun tight in her grip, pointed at me.

"Give us the rest of the serums Tris," Federico commanded as he stretched his open hand out for retrieval.

I just kept looking at Tobias and then back at Nita. I pulled a few serums out of my pockets and held them out for Federico to take. They were mostly truth and memory serums. I wouldn't give them the death serum.

"Now, now, do you think I'm that stupid? All of the serums, please?"

I huffed and pulled out more. I had to give them something that they anticipated and Federico knew what each serum looked like. I purposely left couple of death serums in my pocket that I would use later when I got close enough and the Resurrection serum was in my bra, no way was I going to give that up to them.

"Better," Federico said as he handed the vials to Marco who threw Tobias down in the dirt then kicked him in the ribs. Tobias fell to his back and laid there.

I ran to Tobias, but was pulled back by Nita who grabbed me by my arms. I struggled in her grip as I fought to get to Tobias, whom Federico was still pointing the gun at.

"What shall we do with her boss?" Nita asked as her grip on my arms grew tighter. I could feel the bruises starting just under the surface of my skin.

"We have what we need, dispose of her," he commanded.

"No! Tobias!" I yelled and struggled in Nita's grip, but I couldn't get free.

He looked back at me and I saw the shine of tears that were trailing from his eyes. "I love you," were his last words before Federico shot him.


	26. Chapter 25

It was as if my life crumbled before my eyes. Losing my mother was hard as I saw her shot right in front of me, the same with my father. The loss of a parent is nothing compared to the loss of someone you have given your complete heart and soul to. When I watched the light fade from Tobias's eyes I screamed out in agony and torment. How could this world be so cruel to take me from him and now that I was back, to take him away from me? My heart was completely shattered that I gave up all the fight in me and fell to my knees.

I crawled towards Tobias's body and pulled his head into my lap. The blood was pooling on the ground where Federico shot him in the temple. I cried and patted his hair away from his eyes. I stroked his face and tears fell onto his purpled skin. "I love you," I whispered, knowing he couldn't hear me. My body shook as sobs took over me and then anger replaced the sorrow. I will not let this happen. I wouldn't let this end like this.

The group was starting to disperse but Nita stood behind me with her gun cocked and ready. Federico gave her the signal to end me but she hadn't done it yet. I supposed she wanted to gloat. I was surprised she hadn't already as I sat crumpled on the ground with my dead boyfriend. I had lost everything now. Nothing else mattered now that Tobias was gone.

"See, if you had only cooperated, then this wouldn't have happened. This is your fault, Tris," Nita gloated.

My anger was beginning to rise. I wouldn't go without a fight, and if I had to die along with Tobias, I was going to take Nita with me.

"No"

"No, what?" Nita asked as I felt the barrel of the gun hit the back of my skull.

"No, this is your fault!" I yelled as I slid my hand into my pocket that held one of the death serums and I stabbed her in the leg with it, releasing its toxin into her system. "See you in Hell!"

Nita's face was slack with shock as the death serum took its toll on her. Her already dark complexion turned even darker as her skin began to turn black. The gun fell from her grip as her knees hit the ground. The blackness continued crawling up her body and her mouth went slack and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head. Her whole body hit the ground with a thud as she went stiff and slowly stopped breathing. I had done it. I took Nita out by the same means she meant to kill everyone in this city.

I didn't want to leave Tobias. I sat there with his head in my lap and continued to cry. If only I could turn back time. If only I could make it all better again. However, I knew I had to get up. I had to carry on, if anything to save the rest of these people and stop Federico once and for all. To stop Nita's group. I kissed his cold lips once last time before I gently laid him back down on the ground. I wouldn't forget him or leave him here, but I had to stop this first.

I pulled the remainder of the serums out of my pocket and saw I had 2 more death serums, one for Federico and one for Marco. The last few were a couple of memory serums and of course I now had Nita's gun. I checked the clip and saw that on the exception of the three she fired in the tunnel, I still had nine bullets left. Enough for Mary and Rafi and few other resisters. I pulled myself together, readying the serums and headed off towards the group of bandits that were assembled around the corner in front of the Old City Hall.

I snuck around the back, behind the truck that Tobias and I arrived on. My heart was beating so fast I thought my heart may jump out of my chest. I peered around the corner to see Federico giving orders for people to spread out. Most of the traitor Dauntless guards have left, but that left Federico, Marco, Mary, Rafi and a few others in the middle. This would be easy then if I could take out the main outliers. I crept a little closer so I could hear what they were saying.

"We'll head back into the Old City Hall. Now that the Death Serum alarm has been activated, we are safe to assume it's all been expelled and that we can go down there to retrieve the last of the serums. Christopher indicated there were still some left that were not taken. Mary, Rafi, stay here and keep point. Marco, you and I will go back into the building. Christopher, good job my boy. Head back towards to compound and find Victor. Convince him we are in trouble and we need his help. We'll eliminate the leaders of the other factions fairly quickly with Dauntless out of the way."

This man was evil. At least Jeannine had some sort of agenda for keeping everyone at peace, at least by just wiping out the Divergents, well, and the Abnegation, but, Federico planned to eliminate everyone. So if Federico was the only outlier in this city influencing the destruction of all, then I could easily take care of him. Mary and Rafi would be easy. Mary was a horrible woman, but Rafi could be nice. I decided to use a Memory and Death serum on the two so that it was quiet and no one noticed. As they turned their backs I snuck up to Mary from behind and put my arm around her neck, immobilizing her. Rafi turned around with the gun in his hand.

"Let her go!" he said.

"Not a chance" and I stuck the needle of the death serum in her neck. The spot of the injection caused her skin to turn black like Nita's and she instantly crumbled to the ground. I ducked as Rafi fired, already having the Memory serum out and the needle ready. I rolled and swung out with my legs to knock him down, flipping on top of Rafi and injecting him with the Memory serum right in his serum. He took a large breath and then blinked at me in question. "Who are you?"

"No one you need to be concerned about. I want you to leave her and go to the Union Terminal on the west side of town. Find a man named Victor and tell him that Federico is a liar and attempting to kill everyone in the city."

Rafi's eyes went wide and he nodded as I got off of him and he ran down the street, without his gun. Two down; two more to go. I looked left and right and saw no other guards so I proceeded to go into the City Hall entrance where I hoped to find Federico and Marco. Marco I wouldn't give him the pleasure of dying slowly, I was already committed to using the last serum on him. Plus, Marco was huge and I was sure I wouldn't win a fight against him. Stealthy and quick is what I needed to be and I needed to get him with the death serum as soon as possible. Federico deserved to suffer for what he did to Tobias. I would use the last of the bullets in Nita's gun to fill his body up with.

I still didn't see any guards as I slowly made it up the marble steps of the Old City Hall where I had just been with Nita. I knew they were after the serums so I knew exactly how to get there. Since it was Federico's office that the secret bookcase was, they would also know how to get there. I looked to the left where the Mayor's office was located, Federico's office. The door was slightly ajar and I could hear faint whispers from them talking together.

"Get the serums from the container and we'll get to the compound to disperse them. Once the leaders are dead then we can start anew. Anyone who doesn't see things out way will end up just like the others. Dead" the voice I recognized as Federico's, ordered.

"Yes, boss," Marco replied and his big heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs towards the basement tunnel.

If Marco was headed down there, then that meant Federico was alone. I didn't want to shoot Federico and have just Marco left. I needed the element of surprise on my side. I needed to get Marco before Federico. I wanted Federico to suffer for what he did to me, to Tobias. I would have to create a distraction so I could get down in the basement with Marco without Federico knowing about it. I crept back out into the lobby, checking the windows in the front first to make sure no one was watching before I started creeping up the stairs.

I stopped at the large stained glass piece of work at the top of the stairs. I didn't want to have to destroy it but I need the noise the glass would make when it was broken. I looked around and saw a dark alcove just to the left of the window. I could shoot the window out, hide in the alcove, surprise Federico and get him out of the way then head back towards to basement. However, shooting the window out would create a lot of noise. Enough noise for Marco to come back to check on his "boss". I shook my head and made the decision to do it anyways. I had to get them both out of the picture, and if it took me dying just along with Tobias, then so be it.

I hid over in the alcove and took the gun out of the back of my pants where I had it holstered. I took a breath in, aimed the gun, breathed out and shot. I shot the glass at the head of the man in the throne depicted in the piece of art. The glass shattered and scattered everywhere along the floor.

Just as predicted Federico rushed out of the Mayoral office and looked around for the intrusion. He finally looked up to see the window was no longer there. He walked towards the stairs and crept up slowly, his eyes scanning for the threat, not knowing it was me. Federico stopped as Marco walked into the hall as well.

"Boss, I heard gun fire, everything okay?" Marco asked.

"Yes, yes, did you get the serums?" Federico asked him as he started to descend the stairs, giving one last look to the broken glass.

"Yes, sir."

While they were standing there chit chatting I knew I had to make my move. I emerged from the shadows, Marco's back was to me and Federico wasn't paying attention. I crept down the stairs as silently as I could. They were off to the side of the banister so they didn't see me and I tried to be as small as a mouse and as silent as one. I pulled the last death serum out of my pocket and got it ready. I was slowly creeping behind Marco when he began to turn.

"Did you hear that?" he said to Federico.

"What?"

Marco turned around just as I stood and jumped with my battle cry. The syringe out, I was quick and plunged it into the middle of his back. Marco screamed and scrambled to pull out the needle that was turning his skin black. I smiled at what I had done and what he deserved.

"For Tobias," I said as I raised the gun and shot Marco in the forehead as he went down before turning it on a terrified Federico.


	27. Chapter 26

"Please, you don't have to do this" he pleaded.

"Is that so? I don't need to kill you because you shot Tobias in cold blood? I don't need to do this because you are going to murder everyone in this city anyways? Is that it?" I yelled at him standing over Marco's dead body. The blood pooling up behind his head from the shot to the middle of his forehead. His skin turning black from the death serum that was administered.

"You misunderstand," he continued to beg as his hands were raised but I saw the serums in his palms. "I mean to help these people. I need to weed out the bad and start over with the diligent and good people. This city is full of cruelty."

"And what you are doing isn't cruel? That's an illusion. Of course there are bad people and good people. There always will. The exception being you, as you won't live to see a future."

"But my son," Federico pleaded again as he started to drop to his knees.

"Will be unfortunate enough to be just like me. Parentless because someone else's superiority decided to take them from us. You've made your choices in life, now face the consequences."

I founded like an executioner and I felt like one too. I knew this was more a cold blooded kill, but I didn't care. The vision of him giving Nita the order to dispose of me as he shot Tobias in the head still filled my mind. Tears flooded my eyes and pools of liquid fell from my face. "For Tobias" I said again as I shot Federico right between the eyes just as I had done Marco.

I let out a gaping sob as I fell to the floor by Federico's body. It was done. The man and group that were going to murder hundreds were now dead. I really hoped that Rafi had made it to the depot to get word to Victor. I hoped that he was still on our side and not a double agent like Federico was. I hoped that this was the end and we stopped the genocide before it happened. The anger began to boil up inside me once again and I stood and fired a few more shots into Federico's torso just to be sure he was good and dead before I picked myself up and walked out of the Old City Hall.

I heard the trucks before I saw them. I ran towards where Tobias's body was and I intended to protect it for as long as I could or until someone sent me to where he had gone to. I would happily follow him into the afterlife. I could swim with him in the river next to where my parents picnicked and we could be happy.

I flung myself over Tobias's limp body as a large black truck pulled up. I saw Victor get out and look around with Rafi behind him. Evelyn was the next to get out and when her eyes landed on me she sprinted in my direction.

"Tobias!" she screamed as she slid to a stop in front of me. She dropped to her knees and pulled his body away from me and rocked back and forth. "No, no, no, no, no. Not you. Please God no."

"I'm so sorry," I managed to say in a shaky voice. For all the mistrust I have in Evelyn, I can't deny that she didn't love her son. This was a mother in mourning over the loss of her child.

"I should have insisted he stay behind. I should have protected him. I should..." she continued to ramble as I came around and placed my arms around her. She sobbed on my shoulder as she rocked him back and forth in her lap.

"It's not your fault," I reasoned with her and that's when she really looked at me.

"No, it's your fault! If you hadn't insisted he go along, he would be still be alive!" Evelyn was screaming at me. She grabbed my arm and shook me and I knew it was more about her grief than her anger at me. I tried not to fight back until she slapped me across the face.

"This is all your fault!" she screamed again.

That's when Victor came over and took hold of Evelyn. His strong grip allowed her to collapse in his embrace as he held her close to him. "It's not her fault. This is Federico's work. He deceived us all."

Victor's voice was calm and nurturing. Unusual for a Dauntless. Usually they don't care much about feelings and just about action. I apparently had Victor pegged wrong. Seems he could be sensitive when needed and right now, sensitivity is what Evelyn needed. I couldn't give her that. My own grief had left me numb. My mind could only think of that instant that the gun went off and Tobias's body hit the floor in front me. My body was shocked to the core and I couldn't make myself move when it happened other than to catch his head as he fell. I looked down at myself and saw that his blood coated me. I looked like a warrior fresh from battle. I suppose that was true.

"Where are Federico and the others?" Victor ask as he looked around, alert, but still comforting Evelyn as if it was his top priority. It seemed as though there was something between the two of them. Did they know each other outside of this situation? It couldn't be possible.

"Dead," was the only thing I said as I stared numbly at my hands that were starting to shake. My mind was a blank and I couldn't think at all. I just saw. I saw his body lying there, limply. Blood pooled up on the grass where he lay and I felt the tears come back. "I killed them all"

Evelyn looked up at me with determination in her eyes and Victor looked at me with surprise. "You killed them all?" Evelyn asked. "Who killed my son?"

Her voice was one of wild determination to avenge her son's death, I would have to let her know that I already avenged him, but it didn't make me feel any better about losing Tobias. "Federico. He shot him and gave the order to shot me."

Evelyn gasped and Victor's eyes hardened as I told them the story of how everything went down. How Christopher was working for his father all along and delivered me right to the lion's den. I even gave them the details of how I killed the group. I confirmed Nita's body and how she was part of the ring leaders then showed them Mary, letting them know that I had spared Rafi only on the condition that he brought everyone here to see what had really happened. I then took Victor and Evelyn to see Marco and Federico's body. Evelyn didn't want to leave Tobias, but I think her hatred for Federico and Marco outweighed the grief she was feeling.

Marco and Federico's bodies were still where I left them. Victor stopped to examine both of them. The shock and horror on his face was apparent enough. "You used the death serums on three then?"

"Yes, that's all I had. I used the memory serum on Rafi and the death serum on Nita, Mary and Marco. I also shot Marco just out of spite before he died anyways. I felt Federico deserved to die the same way he killed Tobias. I used the serums that I took…"

I paused and Evelyn and Victor both turned to look at me, "I took serums from the storage fridge in the basement…" I paused again, thinking. "There was another…"

I dug into my shirt and pulled out the vial that I stuffed into my bra. My eyes widened and so did Evelyn's.

"What is that?" she asked.

"The Resurrection Serum," Victor spoke up. "It was made so that if something happened to our leaders, we could save them."

"Resurrection Serum?" Evelyn's eyes went wide and so did mine.

"I had forgotten that I grabbed it," I spoke before my throat tightened. I could use it. I could bring Tobias back.

I turned and ran before either of them said anything. I heard Evelyn quickly gaining on my heels as she yelled out my name to wait for her. I didn't want to wait. I wanted to get to Tobias. I was going to bring him back. I wouldn't let him go. I couldn't.

I slid down to be level with Tobias and I pulled the safety cap from the needle. My hand was shaking with the adrenaline that was coursing through my system. "Please work," I whispered as Evelyn dropped down across from me. Her hand touched mine and she smiled at me before nodding her head allowing me to proceed.

I turned his head to expose the long line of his neck. His tattoo peeked out from his shirt color and I could remember the touch of my fingers on his back the first time she showed them to me. A tattoo for each faction for each quality that he wanted to have. Kindness, Honesty, Bravery, Intelligence, and Selflessness. Those were all qualities that he did have. I plunged the syringe into his neck and injected the entire serum into his system and we waiting with batted breath.


	28. Chapter 27

I was laying down in a meadow of tall grass and the sun was beating down on my skin warming me. It was peaceful here. I had no worries, no thoughts of sadness or anger. I just was. This must be heaven. The last moments of my life I remember, the look of Tris's face as I looked at her before all went black and I found myself in this place.

I didn't feel sad for leaving Tris behind. I now knew this is where she was likely at when she left me. It was so peaceful here. No wonder she went into that light. She had dreams of seeing her parents again, and in this place she could. I could feel the sadness in my heart starting to lift and peace resided over me.

I put my hands behind my head and closed my eyes, taking in the warmth of the sun on my face. It felt good to be here. Perhaps one day Tris would join me and we could live out eternity in this beautiful meadow and have to worry for nothing.

I felt the chill settle over me and my vision darkened as something blocked out the sun.

"You need to go back," a voice said from above me.

I opened my eyes to see a woman with dark brown hair looking down at me. She had the sharpest blue eyes that reminded me a lot of Tris's eyes. Her voice was soft, but firm. She wore a white dress that flowed around her like a cloud. She looked like an angel. Perhaps she was. Her face was so much like Tris's that I could almost mistake her for Tris except her hair was much darker.

"Who are you?" I asked as I sat up on my elbows, my legs still flat out in front of me unwilling to move from the warm sunlight. My body didn't want to leave this place.

"Someone who knows that you don't belong here," she said. "You must get ready to leave."

"Leave? And go where?" I asked, confused. Was this just an in-between place? Perhaps I wasn't in Heaven yet. Maybe this was a place for my soul to settle before heading up to the clouds to look down upon the cities and people I once loved.

"Goodbye Tobias," she said as her voice started to fade and my vision once again starting to go black. "Take care of my Tris."


	29. Chapter 28

My eyes blinked open against the bright light of the day. I could hear the muffled voices around me come in clearer until they were so loud they hurt my ears.

"Tobias?" I heard her voice before I saw her.

I blinked again and she came into focus. She was like an angel. Her golden hair shone in the sun and it draped down like a curtain as she pressed her face closer to mine. I reached up my hand and touched the soft skin of her cheek and brought her forehead down to meet mine. "Tris"

She slammed into my chest and put her arms around my shoulders, holding me to her, "Oh my god, I'm so glad you came back. We weren't sure it would work, but I'm so glad it did."

She let me go and kissed me hard on the mouth as if it was the last kiss we would ever share. "We?" I asked.

I looked to my right and saw my mother sitting next to me, a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Her mouth moved but no words came out. "Mom?"

"Oh, Tobias! I thought I lost you," she grabbed me and pulled me to her and cried on my shoulder.

I weakly put my arms around her as well as she held me like the little boy I once was. "You both worked together?" I asked, laughing. "You hate each other."

Mom laughed and she let go of me. She looked over towards Tris who smiled at her as well before they both looked at me with expressions of happiness, "We had a common goal," my mother explained.

"Does this mean you two will try to get along then?" I asked wearily.

They both laughed as they helped me to my feet. I saw that they both looked at each other with a different measure of respect. I liked this new beginning, even if it meant that it may be short lived. Tris and my mother both had tempers and both were very determined to do the best for the people they loved. Their strong personalities may clash, but that's okay. As long as we were all together it would work out.

"Can we go home now?" I asked as I stretch my legs out that were stiff. My face felt like it was hit with a brick.

"Of course sweetheart. We can leave whenever you are ready," my mother told me as her and Tris guided me towards the large van.

Victor walked up to us and nearly froze with shock seeing me. "It worked?"

Tris smiled and nodded her head, "It sure did."

"I'm pleased. If you need a place to rest, we can go back to the depot. He looks like he needs some medical attention," Victor explained as he opened the door to the van and we all piled in.

"Is everything settled here?" Tris asked.

"I believe so. When I initially got your message about Federico, I sent guards to out all over the city to look for the turncoats. We have already eradicated them from the ranks and disposed of them. The city is now back in our control."

We pulled out of the Old City Hall and I continued to listen to Tris and Victor talking. My mother had me lying back in her lap as she ran her fingers mindlessly through my hair. I could feel the tears hitting my face every once in a while. She thought I was gone. I did too. I didn't think I would ever see either of them again, but while I was sitting in that peaceful place, it was okay. I didn't feel sad, I felt content. I knew that my mother and Tris would be okay without me. I wondered if that's how Tris felt when she died.

"Mom," I started. My voice was hoarse but I tried to clear my throat to talk to her just a bit.

"Yes, darling?" she looked down at me; her eyes were shining with freshly shed tears as she brushed her fingers lightly over my face.

"I love you," I said and she smiled down at me.

We had a rocky relationship when she first came back, when I first found out she wasn't dead after all, but the two and a half years that Tris was gone and she moved in with me, our relationship had blossomed. She was funny and caring. She could be stern, but she was compassionate. We did a lot of things together, since I wasn't much up to doing thing with anyone else. I still couldn't look at Caleb the same way since Tris died. I knew why she did was she did, but I still felt it was unfair for her to having taken his place and leave me alone without her. I still felt a bit bitter about it. Christina had pretty much gone off on her own. She stayed with her family and became part of Candor again, or at least what Candor had become, which was still part of our legal process. She was a law student now in Criminal Justice. Tris would be proud of the woman Christina had become. I was excited to get her back and see everyone again.

When Tris was done with her conversation with Victor she came to the back where my mother and I were sitting. Evelyn hadn't let go of me since I came back from that sunny meadow. Tris looked at the both of us and I caught her eyes as she smiled. "Enjoying yourself?" she teased.

"Immensely. It's not every day I can be petted and dotted on from my mother," I teased back as my mother lightly slapped me on the arm. I hissed in pain as my arm was still out of joint from where Marco had pulled my shoulder out of socket. She apologized and helped me sit up.

"I'm sure you two have some things to talk about. I'll go sit with Victor. We should be at the depot shortly," Evelyn said as she gracefully left Tris and me alone.

"So," I began, not sure where to start. I was mildly curious as to what happened to everyone. I heard bits and pieces, mostly that Tris had taken care of the problem. A growing sense of pride filled me knowing that she was able to administer justice and stop the coming red tide.

"So," she repeated. "How are you?"

"Sore, but alive," I said and then looked up into her blue eyes and I that's when I recognized the ones I saw in the field. "I saw your mother."

Tris, who had been looking at her hands, looked up in surprise, "My mother?"

"Yes, she's the one who told me I didn't belong where I was on the other side. She told me to take care of you."

Tris smiled and looked away, I supposed remembering her parents from the last time she saw them. "I miss them terribly."

I grabbed her hand and brought it to my lips as I kissed her torn and broken knuckles. "I know."

"What was it like where you were? Was it peaceful?" she asked. I supposed she wanted to compare it to her own experience.

"It was. I was in a meadow and the sun was bright and warm. I didn't feel sad, but I thought of you often," I explained to her. I gave her all the details of my visit and she shared hers. The picnic with her family, how content she was, the fleeting thoughts of me that continued to be ripped away every time she tried to think of me. It made me sad but I understood. Life after death isn't supposed to be about hardship and sadness; it's supposed to be peaceful. And now that I had experienced it, I understood.

"I had almost forgotten about the serum that I used on you. I had grabbed it because it was the only one in the case I wasn't familiar with. It was Victor that reminded me. I can't believe that I didn't remember myself."

"You had a lot on your mind obviously. And you did the right thing at the time. You couldn't have brought me back when you had to fix the problems you were facing first. I don't blame you for anything."

"I love you so much," she said as she leaned in and kissed me. Her lips were soft but full of longing.

"I love you too," I said back. "Let's go home."

With her forehead pressed against mine she nodded. When I was ready for long travel, we would head back to Chicago and finally be able to live our lives the way we wanted to. Together.


	30. Epilogue

Three Years Later….

Chicago was so different than how I remembered it before I left, well, died. Factions were gone, my now husband, Tobias, was now the leader of the city after Johanna's death. She had a rare form of cancer that the Erudite scientists couldn't cure. She left everything to Tobias and he agreed to take care of everyone and everything once she finally departed. We lived on the top floor of the Hancock building that was remodeled for condo apartments. Tobias wasn't so keen on living on the top floor, but he knew my thrill for excitement and how heights didn't really bother me as much as they did him. He claimed he had gotten over his freight, but he wouldn't even come close to the end of the balcony. I smiled each time.

Hands came up and wrapped around my bulging belly. I laid mine on top of his, our rings clinking together as he laid his chin on my shoulder. A small flutter in my belly and I laughed. "Did you feel that?" I asked, looking back at Tobias.

"He kicked," he responded and turned me around to kiss my stomach.

"What makes you think it's a he?" I asked. We didn't want to know the sex of the baby; we wanted it to be a surprise. "For all we know she's a free spirited girl like her mother."

"In any case, I think we will have our hands full," Tobias answered with a smirk on his face. He kissed my stomach again before coming up to meet my own lips.

"I love you," he whispered and I returned the sentiment.

When we came back from Cincinnati there were a lot of shocked faces to see me. My brother was one of them. Caleb dropped to his knees as cried tears of joy as I ran to greet him. Tobias still could not understand why I had chosen to forgive my brother. I reminded him that Caleb was family and would always be family. You should cherish the ones you have because they could be ripped from you any second. Knowing the stuff we had been through, he understood and now him and Caleb had a better relationship. Still not perfect, but at least they could talk civilly, at least around me they could. Christina came by every day for a few months. She was mostly in shock and came by because she still couldn't believe I was alive and constantly thought it was a bad dream. It was nice to have her around again. Tobias had said after my death she became distant and withdrawn. I was glad she was now coming out of her shell. Her and Caleb were actually dating now. She kept him in line and he liked the excitement.

Evelyn and I have a wonderful relationship now. She won't ever be my mother, but I'm glad she is in our lives. She has been such a great help, especially now that we are expecting. We got over our differences and saw that Tobias and I loved each other deeply and that's all she could ever really want for her son. She was so excited to be a grandmother. I felt a bit of sadness that my own parents wouldn't see this day or experience it. Life must go on though.

Our life is now our own and what we make of it. The factions are gone but their principles remain. Tobias's foundation is to be all the qualities of the factions that we once held in regard. It was pressed upon all the people to consider all these qualities in order for the city to work successfully and without strife. The factionless now had jobs that mattered and created a livelihood for them. Many from the original factions stayed in the same line of work, such as the Amity folks still preferred to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city and stay in the fields to grow our foods. Dauntless formed our city police to keep us safe. Erudite was our scientists, doctors, and teachers that informed and cured our sick and ill-informed. Candor became our judicial system, but with checks and balances. Abnegation still worked with the needy and helped those who could no longer help themselves. The city was working together like it should have all along. Our future was bright and with this new life we are bringing into this world, I could only hope for a better place to raise our child.

I wrapped my arms around my husband and we stood there on the balcony looking over the city as the sun set. The orange, yellow and reds of the sky melded together saying goodbye to one day so that we may see another. That's all any of us could ever hope for.


End file.
